Ex-bouncer praying that the country goes clubbing

Luminar chief Steve Thomas and his 300-strong chain face make-or-break week

It may be Christmas but partying is the last thing that Steve Thomas has on his mind. Britain's Mr Disco has just eight days left to persuade the City that Luminar, his chain of nightclubs, deserves to stay on its guest list in 2003.

Christmas week is make or break in Mr Thomas's world – a 300-strong chain of bars and clubs which takes in Chicago Rock Café, Jumpin Jaks and Liquid. The office party is his bread and butter. Which means the burly 49-year-old is on a punishing schedule right now. Out at least five nights a week and no sleep before three o'clock. All this stress is playing havoc with his appearance. "If I'd known you were going to take a photo I'd have definitely looked better. This time of year I'm not at my best," he says.

"Please avoid showing this photograph to children, young people and people with heart conditions."

As pints are raised and glasses clinked over the next few days, Mr Thomas won't be the only drinks man to lose a bit of sleep. A disappointing few months trading has left the industry in dire need of a pick-me-up. In most cases only a boozy Christmas will help balance the books. Luminar, like its peers, has seen its stock market value collapse as investors fret that the boom time for Britain's high streets bars and clubs has finished. Its shares have more than halved since May, from 929p to 405p.

Mr Thomas insists December is going well so far although he adds: "I suppose that can change on a day-by-day basis. It's a date-specific issue. Y'know, the Christmas parties. Are they going to be performing? Is everybody going to come out on Christmas Eve as they usually do for a drink when they should close the office? What date does the office close down?"

He explains, in a voice that betrays his Cardiff roots, that his business depends on "meeting the demands of the public and being available when they are out". That, and "maximising the amount of money people are spending".

This involves a complex formula that revolves around food, drink and entertainment and the application of some heavy-duty management techniques. "It's a triangle of points. If you want to make drink the driver, maybe you put food with it. So you give them a free buffet to get the drinkers in. Or if it's food, you then may put in a bit of entertainment, because then the content is better. And if it's entertainment, you're then selling food and drink off the back of it. You use the three aspects of why people are out – food drink and entertainment – at different stages of the day as the primary driver."

I begin to imagine Mr Thomas sitting at home (in Northamptonshire with his wife and two kids) with models of his 300 bars and clubs, moving figures around a giant map of Britain to work out what fits best where. For December, this would have included a mini Darius – the Popstars wannabe who has since had a number one album – who has been starring at Luminar's Chicago Rock Cafes, avowedly cheesy venues for people that want to eat, drink and dance.

It is sometimes hard to follow Mr Thomas's stream of consciousness as he races around his subject matter. A Cardiff bouncer at the tender age of 17, the Luminar chief executive has been in the nightclub business all his life. "Which just makes me sad, doesn't it?" he asks, rhetorically. He is larger than life (in every sense of the word) and has a flirtatious manner that can make it difficult to know what to take seriously. One drinks analyst says: "He is quite a good operator but a very brazen individual. He has had to eat humble pie in terms of his ego and reputation."

On the thorny issue of discounting drinks to pull in those spoilt for choice on the high street, Mr Thomas is clear: "There's not a company in this land that doesn't discount. Because anybody who says they doesn't is lying." He denies, that Luminar is any more guilty than its peers, pointing to the group's recent increase in gross margin. "The trouble with this industry is that too many people are more interested in other people's businesses than their own. If they spent as much energy actually working on their own businesses as they spent criticising others, their businesses probably wouldn't be in the state that they're in."

He sees the current shake up in the pubs market, which has already claimed one scalp in the form of Old Monk, as a form of poetic justice for years of over expansion. "There is a clearing out at the moment that is going on. And thank god for that. Because I think there have been bastardised products on the high street. I think the City has to take some responsibility giving capital to people that probably don't have a discernible product."

He is unsurprised that most of the victims are the operators of so-called chameleon bars – venues designed to appeal to different customers at different times of the day. "I've never known anybody who can stay out for 18 hours and then get up and cook steak and kidney pie the next morning. It just does not work."

Despite flagging in October that the group would miss its 15 per cent growth target for 2002, Mr Thomas says he has no serious qualms about next year. "With the flexibility of Luminar we should be able to do something about everything. We're very upset by people's perceptions. But are we worried operationally? No, we're not."

One unlikely cause of concern is the student market. It sounds like something you might tell your kids, but students these days aren't what they used to be. Either that or the introduction of tuition fees means they no longer have the cash to spend on beer they once did.

To compensate, Mr Thomas says Luminar is focusing on a different student market: the returnees. This means coming up with a new product that will appeal to students during the not inconsiderable amount of time they spend on holiday, away from their university towns.

So when does Mr Thomas find time to party? Not until January when Luminar's 300 nightclub managers will congregate in an hotel to let their hair down. Not in one of Luminar's venues, though, because: "We'd like to keep the fixtures and fittings." But he's sure it will be a good night. "Have you ever dealt with 300 nightclub managers? I tell you. There are more chat up lines per square foot than anywhere else." Whatever turns you on.