The London Astoria. RIP

Legendary Rock Venue makes way for Crossrail.

Location: 157 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0EL

Description: Change can be good, but mostly it's bad - and so to the Astoria. The legendary Rock Venue seems completely doomed to make way for some trains... sorry Crossrail.

Okay okay it's a sort of decent cause, but this is the Astoria - I saw Gene and the Charlatans here and it was immense! Mayor Ken Livingstone said the site will be bulldozed to make way for the new railway linking East and West London. Despite the capitols new 'Live Music Strategy', this superb Mecca for tunes still stands to lose out in a big way.

Apparently it's 'physically not possible' to save the venue- as a station is planned for the same spot. The UKs music people have come out in force - 'cheeky chappy' Jack Penate said 'it's an absolute disgusting travesty' and with a 35,000-strong petition at www.petitiononline.com/savethea - young Jack can't be wrong.

The Astoria was built on the site of a former pickle factory and opened in 1927 as a cinema. It was later converted for theatrical use in 1976.

Tours: Music: off the beaten path

Themes: Music Music Theme