G-A-Y announces end of an era at Astoria

By Tony Grew • May 19, 2008 - 12:23

The Astoria will be torn down as part of the redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road station (photo: antmoose@flickr.com)

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Club promoter Jeremy Joseph has confirmed that his popular G-A-Y night will no longer use the Astoria as a venue on Monday, Thursday and Friday nights.

"G-A-Y will continue to run Saturdays until I can find a suitable act to go out with a bang with," he said in a statement.

"Having said that, who that act will be, I have no idea, as I want the last night to be about G-A-Y, not about the act.

"I want to leave the Astoria on a high rather than watching the venue fall apart with no money being spent on it or guessing when the building is to be bulldozed."

The Astoria was opened in 1927 as a cinema and was converted into a theatre in 1976.

Despite protests from famous musicians and petitions signed by tens of thousands of people, the building will be pulled down as part of the construction of the new Crossrail project.

The G-A-Y night has played host to performances from Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, the Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, Suga Babes and with X-Factor winner Shayne Ward.

Mr Joseph said he had made the decision to leave the Astoria after fifteen years "after a lot of thought and consideration.

"G-A-Y will be giving up Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays first with the last one being on Fri 13th June. How apt ending on Friday 13th.

"So what is the future for G-A-Y? Well priority goes to G-A-Y Bar and Late, and you will be seeing changes there including G-A-Y Late doubling in size, more details very soon."

The G-A-Y franchise includes two other bars, G-A-Y Late located just off Charing Cross Road and G-A-Y bar on Old Compton Street in Soho.

The MAMA group, owners of the Barfly music venue chain and the management company of top British bands such as the Kaiser Chiefs, recently bought a 75% shares in Manto Soho Limited (MSL), the company which operates G-A-Y bar and G-A-Y Late.

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