Club Tito’s, one of the most popular party nightclubs in Goa and an iconic hospitality brand, has been sold. On Monday, Ricardo D’Souza, a partner in the business venture, revealed the news through a social media post. However, the identity of the new owner has not been disclosed yet.
According to IANS, the local promoters of Club Tito's, one of the state's oldest party and nightlife haunts, have sold the club and other allied businesses in Goa citing harassment by government officials, politicians and NGOs, Ricardo D'Souza, a partner in the business venture, said.
Club Tito’s was considered to be one of Goa’s first and most famous nightclubs. This sought-after place also had a concert space and an open-air restaurant. It was considered to be a hotspot, especially, from November and January.
In a post on social media, D'Souza wrote, "It is with sadness but with anger that we have sold our entire business in Goa. I personally have suffered the least as I was compensated adequately and even my future generations won't have to work. I will also share some with our staff, but in the long term they now have no jobs.”
Sarcastically he also held certain groups of people responsible for the unemployment of Club Tito’s employees, and wrote, “Can I please ask our officials to employ them as I do not ever plan any more business in Goa. By "officials" I mean all the harassing lot, like police, PDA, CRZ, NGOs, panchayat and sarpanchas (not Shawn Martins), BDO, Dy Collectors...”
"I am very grateful to certain segments of the government like Dr. (Chief Minister Pramod) Sawant, the IAS officers, ex-staff, present staff, our neighbours, all my friends and family and the common people of Goa who all contributed to this great Brand called TITO'S. End of an Era!" D'Souza added.
According to the club’s official website, it was launched in 1971 by Tito Henry De Souza with an aim to provide expats with a place to unwind. Located at Baga Calangute, the nightclub garnered love from around the world. Interestingly, the club and other business owned by the brand became so synonymous with Goa that the lane it was on was referred to as ‘Tito’s Lane’. The website also mentions that the club has played over 87,600 hours of music, hosted 16,425 parties and on average had 90,000 visitors every month.
(With Inputs from IANS)