Luminar Group Holdings plc was established in 1988, with the opening of its first nightclub, Manhattan Nitespot in King's Lynn, Norfolk. The continued growth in the discotheque division and the creation of the popular Chicago Rock Cafe concept meant Luminar became a successful leisure company of the early 1990s. It floated on the stock exchange in May 1996. There was a large expansion of Chicago Rock Cafes in the late 1990s. Luminar also ran and owned a couple of themed Australian restaurants, Tuckers Smokehouse, which opened at Kettering in Northamptonshire and Chelmsford in Essex. From August 1999 there were discussions with Northern Leisure about a possible merger. In November 1999, Luminar bought twenty nightclubs and seven bars from Allied Leisure for £34m. Luminar bought Northern Leisure in May 2000 for £392m with a combined total of 237 nightclubs and late-night bars. In 2001 it opened 41 new venues, 44 in 2002, and 30 in 2003. In November 2003, it consolidated its range of nightclub brands into the four main divisions – Oceana, Liquid, Life and Lava-Ignite. In June 2005, it sold 49 nightclubs to a management buyout, which became CanDu Entertainment for £27m. Luminar sold the Entertainment division that included the Jumpin Jaks and Chicago Rock Cafe brands to 3D Entertainment in December 2006 for £79m, in a sale and leaseback deal. Luminar Group Holdings plc was placed into liquidation on 26 October 2011. Luminar Group Ltd was incorporated on 5 December 2011 and headed up by former managing director Peter Marks, retaining the brands and most of the venues the previous company operated. The Luminar Group Limited acquired both Chicago Leisure Limited and Chicago Leisure Limited on 7 November 2014. On 17 May 2015, The Luminar Group was rebranded as The Deltic Group Limited, with their recent expansion into the late bar market.
Controversies
In June 2019, the company along with door staff company Securigroup Services Ltd, and its former general manager Wayne Mason were ordered to pay £110,000 in fines and court costs, for creating a fire risk hazard at its Kuda nightclub in York.
