THIS Saturday night will be the last night of Sally O'Brien's as its punters currently know it - as the operation switches to the premises formerly known as Top of the Town at 13 John Street (just a few doors down the street), while a major demolition and rebuilding project gets under way at the old premises.

A massive four million pound investment is being made in the new Sally's which, it is hoped, will be ready by next June, and will include comfortable outside smoking areas for both the night club and the bar and lounge, as well as triple the number of toilets currently available.

The new building will also have a lounge between the bar and the dance hall. Proprietor, John McGirr, said that the new premises will have a kitchen from which fresh cooked food will be provided and that the new building will surpass the standards set by the authorities and the carbon foot-print of the new Sally's will be considerably smaller than that of the old.

John says that whilst the new development is exciting, he has some mixed emotions about the demolition of the old premises which he has personally run for the past 23 years and which were in his family's hands even before that. The redevelopment is not necessarily aimed at bringing in more punters but to ensure that the premises are fit for the purpose in the years to come, the main job is to improve the comfort of the environment for customers.

As the last customers leave Sally's, so the contractors, McAleer and Teague, get ready to step in. Work will officially begins on Monday but already the contractors have done some preparatory work.

John hopes that his entire operation moving to the Top of the Town premises in the interim, including the atmosphere which Sally's has always enjoyed, will ensure the comfort of the customers and the success of the business. He has thanked his neighbours for their co-operation and says he hopes that any disruption to them will be kept to a minimum.