Roddy Sutherland doesn’t look like a man who runs cutting-edge dance clubs. He looks more like the boss of a chain of city wine bars or family restaurants. And, given his experience in finance and stockbroking, you might be more prepared to accept him as someone at the sharp end of investment management and e-commerce.

But I can now exclusively reveal that this soft-spoken, middle-aged Scotsman is, in fact, deeply involved in all these things and more. From his town-house office complex in London’s East End, Sutherland controls a compact but rapidly-expanding empire that began life as Courtyard Leisure, became Pemberton, and is now a respected member of the Alternative investment Market (AIM) as Mezzanine Group plc.

Belying his upbringing in what one might call one of the more rugged areas of Glasgow, Roddy Sutherland was to build a dynamic career in stockbroking and finance which still stands him in good stead – his Lomond Investments vehicle holds 22% of Mezzanine’s shares.

Leaving school at 17 with 5 ‘O’ levels, he toiled at various broking houses in London and Scotland, including running a cash fund for renowned international fund managers Ivory & Sime, before setting up his own broking firm in Edinburgh in 1989. Former Safeway boss and personal friend Jimmy Gulliver, a director of the firm, became Sutherland’s partner when Lomond was set up in 1990. “We had an idea to set up a company to invest in special projects” says Sutherland, clearly with his family’s future in mind. “I don’t believe in pensions. I don’t need an insurance company to run my money – I think I can do it reasonably well myself!”

The same year, friend and bar entrepreneur Glyn McDonald was seeking funding for the creation in Glasgow of what was to become the original “gastropub”, the “Drum & Monkey”, which provided Sutherland with a toe in the water of the industry. But it took a further few years for Sutherland’s leisure tastes to develop - it was not until 1996 that his firm acquired a 29.9% interest in Courtyard Leisure plc, owners of four central London wine bars, now branded “Drakes”.

“The acquisition allowed us to introduce our bar operations, like the Drum & Monkey, into a public vehicle and the wine bars were a good sound investment. We turned what was an ailing duck into the successful, er, Drakes…” Sutherland says, voice tailing off as the true awfulness of his unintentional joke hits him.

A strategic relaunch enabled a company name-change to Pembertons plc – “the history of the Courtyard name was not a strong one." Sutherland observes. The Mezzanine name evolved two years ago when Sutherland became Chairman and the company moved into nightclubs with the acquisition of large dance venues in Wolverhampton, Ipswich and Southend. There is a bar operation in Brentwood, Essex currently under development – the first branded “Mezz Bar” - and Sutherland does not bridle when I suggest this may be modelled on Chorion’s kick-ass Tiger Tiger concept, although with a dance-music twist.

It is in the area of dance clubs that Sutherland sees the core expansion of Mezzanine. The term “dance” has become the generic for garage, techno, trance, house and any other musical style that attracts young customers anxious to put music ahead of boozing or chatting each other up. “When we were young, we went to clubs to drink and pull girls, music was not a fundamental part of it.” Sutherland says, as I nod furiously. “But young people today are music aficionados and dance music has now come up from the underground to become what we used to call pop” As a man of, I suggest, “a certain age”, how at home does he feel in the scene? “Very” he says, “because I’ve taken the time to understand it.”

“At first, I couldn’t fathom why we were paying DJs so much money” he goes on, “but now I recognise their talent – they’re the equivalent of Mick Jagger in our day, they’re the new rock stars. We pay them an absolute fortune and I always make a point of talking to the DJs when I visit our venues. How many company Chairmen do that?”

Drugs are, in Sutherland’s opinion, no longer a problem for well-run dance-venue operators, with the youth of today, he believes, deserving credit for the way they behave. And Mezzanine’s customers are, contrary to popular belief, drinkers as well as boppers and Sutherland is more than happy with bar sales, particularly the fashionable – or life-threatening, depending on your age – combination of Vodka and Red Bull.

Music also drives Mezzanine’s other key brand, Smollensky’s. In February this year, the company acquired the former Capital Radio Café in London’s Finchley Road, to complement its original – and almost legendary - restaurant in The Strand. Smollensky’s caters for a full market, including families at weekends, providing good American-style food (“Everyone likes a good steak!” Sutherland says) to the accompaniment of live jazz and r ‘n’ b music in a bustling and jovial environment. “The way forward…” says Sutherland firmly, in case I had any thought of arguing, “…is Smollensky’s and Mezz Bars.” Two new Smollensky’s sites in Central London are currently at various stages of acquisition.

The common theme of music, and how it is used in leisure applications, has resulted in a major, and somewhat off-kilter, venture that the group calls Mezzmusic. Whilst others whinge about the detrimental effect the internet could have on out-of-home leisure, Sutherland has taken the bull by the horns and set up a music retail venture, soon to be demerged from the group and floated on the AIM in its own right.

Sutherland intends Mezzmusic.com to become a leading e-tailer of dance music on the internet, by means of digital downloads and the creation of customised CDs. A strategic alliance has been established with giant internet backbone provider Powernet Telecom, who will be responsible for the encryption of all music sold through the website to prevent copyright abuse. A raft of top dance DJs have been contracted to produce compilation albums and mixes for Mezzmusic customers to download or buy.

“We were using internet technology to provide entertainment in our clubs and bars, and Mezzmusic came about as a result of this” Sutherland says. The venture will be run by Andreas Georgiou, the creator of singer George Michael’s award-winning, interactive website and an acknowledged expert in the field of music on the internet. Wary at being drawn on the profit-potential of the demerged venture, Sutherland will only say that “my history shows that I am not someone who starts businesses to lose money on them!”

If your perceived vision of an Oxford University May Day Ball is one of bright, sophisticated young things from the right side of the tracks, all dinner jackets and fine gowns, punting up the river to the accompaniment of a glass of Bolly and a dash of Strauss – think again. Sutherland has recently acquired the rights to stage the Ball which, screams the frenetic press-release, will be the “outdoor dance event of the summer…as 15,000 revellers descend on the sleepy city of Oxford…including two outrageously flamboyant Big Tops, superstar DJs, good-time geezers like Boy George and a state-of-the-art VIP area” (presumably for all those state-of-the-art VIPs that the Ball will attract!).

As our interview is conducted, the Ball is less than two weeks away and Sutherland is visibly excited at the prospect, particularly as the live bands and DJ sets will be webcast for a full 12 hours at Mezzanine.com. “It’s a perfect fit” says Sutherland, “and allows us to showcase what our business is all about.”

The current panic over the long-term viability of dot.coms does not worry Sutherland. “I’m long enough in the tooth to have seen similar in sectors like property, gold and oil – companies and commodities become overvalued” he says. “It was a frenzy and, like all frenzies, there’s been a correction. But the world has not ended and the indigestion in the market will clear up. I only hope investors have learned a lesson from it, to look more closely at prospectuses! Good, sound dot.coms will benefit from this pull-back.”

The proposed changes in licensing laws have prompted Sutherland’s contentment with the way government and leisure interact and he views deregulation positively. “The clubs that will be affected by extended hours are those where people just go for a late drink and music is secondary” he says. “Our clubs are about music, so we will not suffer. The millions of people who visit continental Europe are used to these kind of civilised, liberal laws.”

Mezzanine is active across the channel, managing as it does a bar in Ibiza, now the international capital of all that is dance. Despite the addition of another bar in the resort this summer, Sutherland views the ventures as merely going on holiday with his customers, providing a brand-extension dedicated to vacationers who want a foreign version of their favourite leisure attraction.

Sutherland’s move into leisure management began as an investment opportunity, but is now a true career. “I’m here for the duration” he says firmly. “I think it’s a wonderful business, with very interesting people.”

“By the way” he asks, as I am leaving, “do cinema people read your magazine?” When I tell him yes, he says “I wish we had a cinema here at Tobacco Dock. I live locally and there’s nowhere to go!” So if anyone fancies it, I’m of the opinion you will benefit in three ways – a ready-made potential investor, a regular customer - and free tickets to as many hip-hop, drum-and-bass or techno-trance nights as you can stomach!

Favourites

Book: “The Great Crash, 1929” by John Kenneth Galbraith

Music: “George Michael – anything by him. He has a fabulous voice.”

Food: Chinese

Car: Any BMW

Place to visit overseas: The Balearics

Hobby: Collecting sports cars (he has a TVR, a BMW and a Merc)

Movie: “The Devil’s Advocate” (1997) with Al Pacino