A Taranaki businessman’s upmarket adult entertainment venue is nearly ready to open after months of trial and tribulation but it’s had to go back to basics.

Denys Taylor bought disused New Plymouth strip club The Crave in 2018 with the intention of relocating it to a vacant site in Devon St East which he planned to call Xite.

His plan was a strip club downstairs with the upper floors as a members area and a brothel. The venue was granted a liquor licence in November 2019.

However, since taking on the lease on Taylor has had equipment thefts, break-ins and suffered physical assaults.

He has a private function booked for 120 people this weekend to give the venue a trial run.

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“I want to make sure that everything ticks along right and works properly,” he said.

Taylor hopes to have the doors to the basement, where bars including Scruples, Broadway and Rhythm had operated, open in the coming weeks.

“Looking up the main street, I’m definitely in the right place. In the last two to three weeks you can see the nightlife coming back after the covid lockdown.

“We are going to open as a bar first and then obviously we will have some stripper services available but it will progress from there.”

Taylor said he was in the final stages of signing contracts for bar and security staff.

“I have to get the right staff and once we have them, which is the most important thing, we will announce the opening.

“Basically we will then just have to stock the bar and we will be ready to go.”

He was excited about the prospect of light at the end of the tunnel.

“It has been a very challenging thing.”

He said the upstairs members-only area would open soon after but was not able to say when the brothel would be ready.

Three males and a female who allegedly attacked Taylor have been charged with entering a building with intent to commit an offence, armed with a knife, injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and kidnapping and remain before the courts.