Row over mocking '˜candle-lit' vigil held for Portsmouth club night

The flowers spelling out Pryzm - the name of the club in Stanhope Road in Portsmouth - were left outside Tiger Tiger on Thursday.

It comes as both venues host a student night on Thursday, with newcomer Pryzm challenging the market.

But Gunwharf Quays has said the fake vigil was in ‘poor taste’ and ‘totally unacceptable’.

Readers have also contacted The News with concerns about the incident.

In a message the shopping and leisure complex, Mitch Tett said: ‘Every day I wake to the news of tragedy in the UK, to see this is extremely poor taste and not what I expect from a venue such as Gunwharf.

‘I understand this is not the companies doing, however I believe this sort of ‘cheap’ publicity should be thwarted.’

Megan Thomas was at Gunwharf on Thursday when she saw the vigil.

She said: ‘In light of the recent tragedies, with the fire and terrorist activity, this is totally disrespectful.

‘This is not something I would expect from somewhere like Gunwharf.

‘Surely naked flames around drunk people in a public area is also a fire risk.’

Luke Betts, who runs Tiger Tiger’s student marketing, said he saw the vigil when he arrived at work on Thursday night.

A video has been uploaded to Facebook, implying that the student night at Pryzm was dead.

Mr Betts said: ‘If my staff cross the line I’d be the first person to show them the door.

‘If they’d personally targeted someone and did a candle-lit vigil for someone in particular, but to say a student night is dead, as far as I’m concerned I’ve got no issues.’

In a statement to people who had complained, Gunwharf Quays said: ‘Our team have now reviewed the situation and we must agree that this is in poor taste and is totally unacceptable.

‘We are taking this matter up with the Tiger Tiger management team to ensure that nothing like this happens again going forwards.

‘Again, we’d like to thank you for bringing this to our attention.’