THE owners of Yate’s only nightclub and entertainment venue have been accused of acting ‘greedily’ after announcing their hire charges would triple.

Managers at Waves, in Yate Shopping Centre, have been blasted for the sudden hike in prices which local groups claim is unreasonable.

Fitness instructor Jodie Horton-Stanley, who has been holding Zumba classes in the nightclub since it first opened in October last year, said the rise from £20 per hour inclusive of VAT to £60 per hour plus VAT was ‘ridiculous’.

Said Jodie, from Yate: "It is not reasonable. They are meant to be a community business but they gave me no notice, they told me I had been on a six-month trial which I knew nothing about and they informed me of the rise in front of some of my customers.

"I don’t know if they are trying to push me out or they are just being greedy."

Jodie, who runs her Thursday Zumba class at Waves as well as others elsewhere in Yate, will move her class to Yate International Academy but said she felt discriminated against.

"I was the first person to rent the nightclub and I helped them to promote it," she told the Gazette.

"I bring 50 ladies to my class every week and just because they don’t spend a lot of money at the bar afterwards I am being discriminated against.

"The ladies were dubious about doing Zumba in a nightclub at first but they love it now. They also go back to the nightclub on other occasions so I feel disappointed. I have worked to build up my business there but the attitude was take it or leave it."

At a licensing hearing last year, Yate's then neighbourhood police inspector Deryck Rees told a panel of councillors he was worried about the inexperience of the owners, father and son Chris and Mark Coles. But the pair, alongside director Charles Smith, said Waves would not just be used as a nightclub but would become a community venue hosting tea dances for the elderly, line-dancing lessons, martial arts sessions and Zumba classes.

Mark Coles said he had reconsidered the rises in rent.

"Having now been open for six months all hire has been reviewed and allocated in lines with current trends and we feel a hire review of 100 per cent increase over a hire period of 12 months would be satisfactory to both parties," he said.

"This would be £40 per hour plus VAT and £20 per 30 minutes plus VAT."

He said any block bookings would receive a discount.