Nox and Paramount face uncertain future after owners choose to sell

Nox and Paramount are going to be sold to new owners, leaving their future uncertain.

The Speratus Group, who own Nox, Paramount and the Illicit Still, have announced plans to sell the venues to focus on their charity restaurant Boozy Cow.

The venues’ potential deaths are not in vain. The quirky and urban burger bar operates on the premise of donating all of their profits to charities like the ARCHIE Foundation. They also boast knowing their way around craft beers and funky cocktails.

Milkshake goals

It is yet unknown if Nox, Paramount and Illicit Still will be bought up or rebranded, but these could be the final days for some of Aberdeen’s most popular nightly venues as we know them.

The announcement follows The Speratus group making operating losses of £13,064 in 2013 and £43,940 in 2014, which most students will find hard to believe with the amount of money they spent on Milk Thursdays.

Goodbye Nox! (Maybe.)

The owners are also planning to open three more Boozy Cows in the UK this year, one in Stirling and another in Dundee.

The founder of The Speratus Group, Garreth Wood, said: “Of course we’ll be sad to sell the other venues, some of which we have spent the last 10 years developing; however, we are very excited to be building on the success of Boozy Cow.

“We have very clear goals and ambitions and feel extremely positive about the future.

“The concept of Boozy Cow is very simple – every single penny of profit from each restaurant will go to registered charities.

“Our customers have engaged brilliantly with the scheme and all of us have been blown away by their support.”

Is this the end?

If we do end up having to bid Nox adieu, Aberdeen’s nightlife scene is going to have a gap in the market for a venue to give students a fleeting sense of class and affluence that most other clubs struggle to recreate with their plebeian ways.