Take a bow, the night is over
This masquerade is getting older
Light are low, the curtains down
There's no one here
There's no one here, there's no one in the crowd
So we wave goodbye to The Astoria this week - with an aptly-named "Demolition Ball" tonight. We have had some great nights at G-A-Y there over the years, dancing on podiums, queuing for hours to see Geri Halliwell, seeing the first public performance of Steps and the last performance of all three original members of Bananarama...
The Astoria Theatre was built by Edward A.Stone and was a conversion from a former pickle warehouse. The theatre was built in 1927 with a large auditorium capable of seating 2,000 in some comfort. It operated as a cinema until 1976, when the building was converted (against the trend at the time) into a venue for live performances.
Although some very major bands played there over the years, The Astoria was always a run-down venue, occupying as it does a rather undesirable position next to a busy road junction and opposite the ghastly Centrepoint complex. Its saving grace came when G-A-Y took over certain nights of the week, packing in the punters.
Yet despite this success, we are going to lose one of the biggest central London auditoriums for the sake of public transport... It is a crying shame!
RIP
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