TRIBUTES have been paid to a nightclub boss who kicked the Kray twins out after they tried to muscle in on his business.

“King of Clubs” Eddie Fewtrell, died last week at his 40-acre Upton Bishop farm at the age of 90.

He was part of a family which once ran more than 20 nightclubs in and around Birmingham from the 1950s.

His 2008 book King of Clubs told how he sent Reg and Ronnie Kray packing after a scuffle when the notorious gangsters turned up at one of his clubs demanding protection money.

Eddie said: “What you have to understand is that in 1957 and 1958, the Krays were well known in London, but in Birmingham I’d never heard of them.

“So when they told me who they were, it didn’t mean a thing.

“I just said ‘P*** off’. They were on my turf, so my attitude was: how could they think of taking me on in Birmingham?

“A little while later, the Lambrianou brothers (the Krays’ muscle) came down, throwing their weight around – and I did the same with them.

“I beat them up and threw them out. It’s as simple as that.

“A lot of people, because I was such a powerful man in the nightclub scene with lots of people under my control, thought that I was a gangster or villain.

“I wasn’t. I was just a normal person who believed in fairness.”

Daughter Abigail said the Krays had claimed: “We’re two brothers, we can give you protection”, but she said her dad responded with: “What do I need two brothers for? I’ve got seven of my own.”

Eddie also wrote about seeing off the Richardson gang, saying: “The Richardson mob arrived at Snow Hill Station on one platform and were met by a deputation of various Birmingham nightclub owners, their families, and their foot-soldiers.

“They were persuaded that they should move across the opposite platform – and catch the next train straight back to London.

“All the tough guys in the world were coming after me.”

Mr Fewtrell – one of 10 children born to an alcoholic father in the Aston area of Birmingham – opened his first club with younger brother Chris in 1956, when they bought the old Victoria Cafe in Navigation Street, and turned it into the Bermuda Club.

He mixed with the stars, like Tina Turner, Tom Jones, Jimmy Tarbuck and heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

Venues he and his brothers owned in the Birmingham area included Edwards No. 7 and No. 8, Boogies, Goldwyns and the Paramount Club.

He sold his empire to Ansell’s brewery for £10m in 1989, but found he missed being involved in the industry, and in 1994 took over the former Queen’s pub in Brierley Hill.

After retiring, Eddie moved to his 40-acre country estate at Hillington Barn, Woodredding, near Ross.

Brother Roger Fewtrell said he was “a legend in his field for nightlife in Birmingham”.

Eddie Fewtrell would leave behind “so many memories” that have “lasted for decades and will last for more to come”, he added.

Shirley Thompson, who co-wrote “King of Clubs”, said the motivation to set up his business empire came when he was evacuated from Birmingham to a Gloucestershire village at the age of seven - showing him a glimpse of a better life.

He later ploughed money made by selling cars into a string of clubs.