A POPULAR city centre nightclub has closed its doors amid reports it has been sold.

Ocean & Collins, in Park End Street, Oxford, has not opened since last Tuesday.

Tony Cope, Oxford's police licensing chief, had been informed of the closure, but said the venue remained licensed should a new owner be found.

He said: "It appears to be a management issue and it looks to be closed for the foreseeable future."

The Ocean & Collins chain, which includes one other club in Southampton, is owned by Bloxham-based Time Company Ltd, but the manager at the south-coast venue said the Oxford branch had been sold.

The Oxford Times was unable to contact Time Company Ltd, or the current licence holders of the club for a comment.

Since changing from Chicago Rock to Ocean & Collins in December, 2005, the venue has courted controversy.

In its opening month, the nightspot denied turning down entry to a group of 60 women who said the club only wanted "sexy, stylish" clubbers and not "frumpy customers from council estates".

A month later, another group of women claimed the club turned them away for being too old. In March, 2006, three live beetles were found in rice at the club during a routine environmental-health check.

Later that year, during the World Cup the venue was criticised by the city council for using chalk to daub adverts for its football coverage across Oxford.

Last year, Oxford City Council removed 46 flyposters advertising Ocean & Collins illegally stuck up around Headington.