Is the Intrepid Fox still staying open, or is that part of the area that's been shut down too?

Don't know actually - they haven't mentioned anything, no signs outside or inside the pub, so I'm going to assume it's going to stay open.

What about the Burger King? I swear if that shuts I'll kick off...

Yeah, fucking hell, that'd be the last straw. There's no point going out in London if you can't stop by Burger King on the way to the bus stop in Tottenham Court Road!

I just dont understand this tho Tottenham Court Road is an important part of london....wouldnt these venues have brought in alot of money and people into london?

A short time on wiki tells me:

The Astoria was sold in June 2006 by Compco Holdings property group Derwent Valley Central for £23.75m, who were rumoured to be planning to convert the site into a combination of shops, flats and offices to take advantage of an increase in property prices for the 2012 Olympics .

The Astoria will be demolished to make way for Crossrail, despite public opposition and an online petition. Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone confirmed that the venue "can't be saved".

A replacement for the Astoria would then be developed by the council and leaseholders, with work due to start in late 2008, depending on Government funding.

According to a report in the NME, the Astoria will host its final night on 14 January 2009. Festival Republic (the owners of the Astoria) have confirmed that a replacement will be built in the near future but no further information is currently available.

AND from the page about the crossrail thing:

There have been complaints from London music fans, as the redevelopment of the area is forcing the closure of a number of historic music venues. The London Astoria"[11], the Astoria 2, The Metro, Sin nightclub and The Ghetto are all being demolished to make way for station expansions and the building of a new shopping complex.

If there is one thing Tottenham Court Road needs is more shops. It's nearly impossible to buy anything in that area! If it was an Opera house or jazz shit hole important people would care and this wouldn't happen. As it stands its a rock venue and a gay club as far as most people are concerned so they didn't care.

At least it is reassuring that a replacement is on the cards - whether it will ever appear or not is another matter though.

It is a shame though to think that a place I saw some really memorable shows at will vanish. Even Morbid Angel at the Mean Fiddler or whatever it's called was an excellent night; it's weird to think that will just be offices or traintracks.

Makes me think of the Ruskin Arms pub, where Iron Maiden played in the early days - it's still a venue! I've heard mixed things about it (never been), but it's cool that it's still there. Same goes for the Hammersmith Odeon (Apollo) - at least that is still a venue; seeing Maiden there on the Early Days tour was one of the most amazing things a modern day Maiden fan could hope for!

ruskin arms closed

Bradford Rios, that was a bit shit, a lot of history, went a couple of times, great venue.

The Fourth Norseman wrote:ruskin arms closed

Really? :'( That totally owns my post then, and is also rather sad. I heard it was a pretty crap venue these days, but I still would have liked to make a pilgrimage there at some point.

James wrote:

The Fourth Norseman wrote:ruskin arms closed

Really? :'( That totally owns my post then, and is also rather sad. I heard it was a pretty crap venue these days, but I still would have liked to make a pilgrimage there at some point.

The ruskin arms closed down in november or dec...they tore it down to put more housing up to help with the fucking shit olympic bid or something equally is retarded. They had iron maiden tribute acts and stuff playing on the last gig, i was gonna go bt culdnt afford it\

By the way, I wouldn't really care if the Intrepid Fox closed, it's quite a grotty place, not to mention pricey, and it attracts loads of posers.

Yeah, I didn't go there too often at all, but it's just nice to know there's a place of rock at my convenience if I really want it.

You will all just have to come to the brand new and awesome Leeds Rio's instead


Seriously though, its a bit shit, no other venue in London serves that size of crowd - bigger than the underworld but small enough for large-ish bands not to look swamped in

The Forum has about the same capacity (~2000), not such a good layout and it's just a little less convenient to travel too.

I never really like the Astoria anyway, on sold out nights it was so packed you couldn't get to the merch, cloakroom or bars.
Unless you went upstairs and watched from the balcony, but balconies are gay. (It's been proven. By science.)
I think the last ever gig at the Astoria is this evening, and is also mostly shit - I'm going along though to see King Blues, Frank Turner and Get Cape Wear Cape Fly.