We were surprised to hear of the sudden demise of Brixton’s Plan B nightclub, which unexpectedly closed its doors last week.

With the website going offline in a dramatically swift fashion, we received several emails from confused punters wondering what had happened to the two-floor nightclub on Brixton Road.

We can now reveal that the club has been bought up by the London-based ‘bar and restaurant collective,’ The Columbo Group.

Founded by Steve Ball (above), the Group recently bought up the old Electric Social bar in Acre Lane, which will reopen as the Blues Kitchen in Autumn this year.

This will be the company’s third Blues Kitchen (the other two are in Camden and Shoreditch), offering a Texas BBQ, regular live music and ‘one of the biggest bourbon selections in London’.

With the launch date some months away, Steve is understandably tight-lipped about his plans for Plan B, although he told Brixton Buzz that he has “exciting plans in the mix” and that it will remain operating as a club (although the Plan B name won’t be returning).

We’ll miss the place: we had some good nights out in Plan B and the Funktion One sound system was one of the finest in Brixton. The sound was amazing for live shows too – something we found out when we put on our own live music nights there.

So RIP Plan B – and we’ll be looking forward to seeing what its new owners do with the space.

Update: Resident Advisor has interviewed Andy Peyton, who speaking on behalf of the new club. He told them that it will be reopening in September with a different name and a different layout, with all of the musical programming being done in-house.

He added:

This isn’t another story about London’s nightlife taking a hit, about another club losing its license. We’ve had long-standing plans for the venue. We’re really excited about it. We think it’ll be a great addition to London’s club scene.”