Astoria to face final curtain

One of London's best-known concert gig venues, the Astoria, faces the final curtain with Westminster Council trying to strip the club of its music licence. The council has threatened to go to the Crown Court in a bid to revoke the Astoria's music and dance permit following a suc-cession of public safety breaches last year. The council turned down the Astoria's licence renewal last September, only for magistrates to overturn the decision following an appeal by the owner, the Mean Fiddler group. Now Westminster has lodged its own appeal in the Crown Court although a final decision on whether to go ahead still rests with lawyers. Vince Power, chairman of Mean Fiddler, has labelled Westminster's moves "an appalling waste of public money". He said: "The Astoria is a world-famous music venue in the heart of London and I struggle to understand what the council would stand to gain from seeking its closure." But Westminster claims the Astoria, which will host a Rolling Stones concert in the summer, has been the focus of serious outbreaks of disorder and public safety breaches, highlighted by a shooting 18 months ago. Between September 2001 and last May, the Astoria was the subject of 152 calls to the emergency services.