A PLAN to open a nightclub at Darlington Football Club's new stadium has been submitted to council chiefs and police.

Chairman George Reynolds wants to open Club Style, a nightclub under the south stand of the Reynolds Arena, from 6pm to 2am six nights a week.

He also wants to extend the opening hours of the stadium's Bar 66 until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Mr Reynolds' application for a public entertainment licence for the club will go before Darlington Borough Council's licensing committee on November 12.

He will also need a special hours nightclub licence from the licensing justices and permission from the council's planning committee for a change of use from a concourse to a nightclub.

A Darlington police spokesman said: "We have received a provisional application for a special hours nightclub licence, which we are currently reviewing.

"We will obviously be looking carefully at the suitability of the building and any policing issues that such a venture might present."

The spokesman added: "We will be offering our comments to the council, whose final responsibility it will be for the planning and entertainment licence, and to the licensing justices, who will ultimately be responsible for the granting of the special hours licence."

The nightclub, which would be in the bar on the stadium's south-west concourse, would hold more than 250 people and would be closed on Sundays.

Last week, Mr Reynolds backed down from a legal battle with the borough council over plans to hold a car boot sale at the Arena.

But he has warned that the football club does not have a future unless planning conditions, which prevent the stadium being used for non-football activities, are lifted.