One of central London's most popular mid-sized venues might have to be sacrificed in order to improve public transport in the capital. The UK government yesterday backed a £10 billion rail project which would see a new rail system built to link East and West London.
The plans include a new station at the junction between the city's Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, and some insiders say the Astoria venue, which is based on that junction, would have to be demolished to make way for that station.
The 2000 capacity Astoria, part of the Mean Fiddler group, is an institution in London's live music scene hosting hundreds of clubs and gigs each year, and is the main home of the GAY franchise.
While a spokesman for the rail project was vague about the implications of the new station on the buildings surrounding the junction, Mean Fiddler were dismissive of the demolition claims, telling the BBC: "This is not going to affect the Astoria. We have been in talks with Crossrail."
The new rail service would take several years to get off the ground. Organisers of London's 2012 Olympic bid hope they can include the service in their plans for staging the games in the city, but some involved in the project say it is unlikely the network would be fully operational by then.