Trevor's funeral cortege to pass his beloved Tubes Nightclub one last time

A private service will be held for family and close friends but local people will get a chance to pay their last respects when a hearse carrying his coffin travels down St Mary’s Way alongside Tubes Nightclub, between 10.15am and 10.30am.

Few people have had more impact on Melton Mowbray’s night-time economy in the last last half-century than Trevor, who sadly passed away aged 87 on August 10.

He was well known locally as the owner of fish and chip shops and Melton Town FC but it was as the founder of Tubes Nightclub he will best be remembered.

From the moment he opened the town centre club, on June 6, 1983, it was established as the place to go after the pub on Friday and Saturday nights.

His daughter, Tracey, who now runs the club, remembers those halcyon days in the 1980s and 1990s, when clubbing was at its peak in Melton.

She told the Melton Times: “When dad first had Tubes in the 1980s, they opened up three floors and there were 900 people there every weekend.

“There was an article in the Melton Times which said girls were sneaking out of their bedroom windows to go to Tubes with their friends.

“We’ve had hundreds of messages about dad on Facebook.

"Lots of people said how they loved going to Tubes and how they met their wife or their husband there.

"People have got so many memories of spending nights at the club.”

Born in Leicester around the start of the Second World War, Trevor had a brother and three sisters and their father was a high ranking officer in the army.

He left school at 15 to work down Merry Lees Mine, near Desford, before working his way up to become a manager there.

The young Trevor harboured dreams of becoming a business owner and he did so when he ran fish and chip shops at Newbold Verdon and Windy Ridge, off Welby Lane, in Melton.

He also opened a popular coffee shop called The Meeting Place on Norman Way.

Trevor met wife, Josie, when he was 17 – the couple were married 68 years and had two children, Antony and Tracey.

He also had a passion for football and owned Melton Town FC during a successful spell for the club – he erected floodlights at their then Egerton Park stadium before being told by the council to take them down due to planning regulations.

Away from his businesses, Trevor also worked for a period as a police special constable and enjoyed collecting war memorabilia.

He retired many years ago and enjoyed spending regular holidays with Josie and family, at their caravan in Skegness and their villa in Spain.

Tracey added: “Dad helped a lot of people during his life and he was a very generous man.

"He enjoyed being around people all the time.

“Dad had a real fun side and he was always playing tricks on the staff at Tubes.”

Trevor loved animals and his family has set up a fundraising page to support the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) – go to https://trevorvernon.muchloved.com to pledge money in his memory.