THE daughter of TJ’s owner John Sicolo says she hopes the legendary club will be kept as a music venue once it is sold.

Mr Sicolo's daughter Leanne said a couple of potential buyers had already expressed interest in TJ’s after she was forced to put the legendary Newport night club on the market just four weeks after her father's death.

Before he died Mr Sicolo revealed the club was in serious financial difficulty and had invested £8,000 of his own pension fund in an effort to keep the cash flow going.

But after several meetings with solicitors, Mrs Jones, 42, said she had had to make the heartbreaking decision to get rid of the club.

She said: “Showing the estate agents around broke my heart because I knew this was it. I hadn’t just lost my dad but I was losing his pride and joy too.”

Mrs Jones added that Mr Sicolo had wanted his grandsons Ashley, 19, and Paul, 18, to run the club after he retired.

But regulars at the club have said they are not prepared to give up on the club just yet, with some suggesting on the social networking site Facebook that the form a cooperative group with the Sicolo family and Newport city council to save the venue.

One said: "TJ’s put Newport on the musical map, is the best venue for miles and used to be frequented by John Peel. It can't close."