STEPHEN PULLINGER Their father arrived in Norfolk with just £8 in his pocket but Greek-Cypriot brothers Andrew and Chris Mavroudis are now spearheading the resurrection of Yarmouth's top nightspot at a cost approaching £1m.

STEPHEN PULLINGER

Their father arrived in Norfolk with just £8 in his pocket but Greek-Cypriot brothers Andrew and Chris Mavroudis are now spearheading the resurrection of Yarmouth's top nightspot at a cost approaching £1m.

To most businessmen it would have appeared bad timing, to say the least, to buy into the seafront Atlantis Arena after it had been closed for more than a year and attracting the worst headlines in a court case over asbestos contamination.

Andrew, 35, admitted: “It is a bit of a project, but then Yarmouth is a project itself. We have got a great deal to do but if everyone said, 'that's not going to work,' Yarmouth would not move forward. What it needs is a bit of oomph from local businesses and the council.”

The brothers are clearly not short of oomph. Following in the footsteps of their father Loizos, who opened a small café, with just a handful of tables, in the town's St Peter's Road in the 1960s, they have built up formidable business empire in the town with seafront arcades, bars, restaurants and flats.

However, with walls and ceilings still in a stripped back state, there is clearly a lot of work to be done before the Arena's grand re-opening night on Good Friday April 6.

A team of more than 20 builders have been working round the clock since the council's environmental health team gave the building the asbestos all-clear three weeks ago.

Andrew said: “We have just got the final bill for £375,000 for removing the asbestos, but our attention to health and safety has been 100pc. Everywhere was taken back to the bare structure of the premises.”

He said the renovation bill would approach £1m when they had finished giving the Arena a totally fresh, new image.

“I have just ordered 32in plasma screens for all over the place, we have got big screens coming, lasers, and the latest sound and lighting equipment,” he said.

Following the opening night, which will be in aid of the breast cancer charity Breakthrough, they are planning celebrity nights and promising household name actors and top chart singers.

They will also be seeking to broaden the age range of people going to the Arena, making it a place for those in their 30s and 40s to feel comfortable with.

He said: “We are going to try to bring people out of their houses who might not have been going out much since the Arena closed. We do not see ourselves competing with Norwich or Lowestoft.”

Further on, the brothers and their co-director Colin Abbott plan to renovate the 62-bedroom Atlantis hotel which sits on top of the club.