A property developer that is in the middle of controversial plans to convert a former Gala Bingo club into a nightclub has threatened to play hardball with campaigners.

More than 800 people signed a petition against plans to use the Grade II listed building as a nightclub in May. They argued that increased levels of crime, mess and anti social behaviour in the nearby residential roads and stretched police resources as their main points.

Franco Lumba, a resident inTwickenham, purchased the freehold to the Richmond Road property two months ago. Mr Lumba, who already runs the Essence nightclub near Kingston Bridge and Vanilla in Windsor, has suggested that he wants a 2,000 capacity venue that could draw in big acts each week. He plans to submit plans in the new year.

He added: “All these residents are jumping up and down and they don’t even know what it is. That does not worry me.

“Tell them I’m here to stay and I will be disrupting their lives if they want to play hard to get.”

Bernadette Vallely of the Richmond Road Residents’ Association, which has been reformed to fight the plans, said: “This is a residential area, not the centre of town.

“It’s not right for a businessman to come into an area and brazenly tell residents he does not care. It showed a lack of interest in the area and that he is just interested in making money.”

The former Gala bingo hall on the corner of Richmond Road and Canbury Park Road started life as the Regal cinema in 1932. It was designed by Robert Cromie in 1930, and had 2,433 seats plus stage facilities, a Wurlitzer organ and a cafe with sprung floors for tea dances.

Following changes of ownership it was renamed the Union in 1937, the ABC in 1938 and the Regal again in 1939, before reverting to the ABC again in 1960. In 1976 it closed as a cinema and was converted into a bingo club. It given a listed status in 1993 and was closed earlier this year by Gala Bingo.