London demolished the Astoria to build a Crossrail station

The Astoria at 157 Charing Cross Road had been a place of spectacle since 1927, when it opened as a cinema, and after a 1977 theatrical conversion it reopened in 1985 as a nightclub and live music venue. With a capacity of up to 2,000 it became one of London's defining rooms: Nirvana played it in December 1989, the Rolling Stones had played it before them, and three decades of touring bands measured a good London night by it.

Its end was decided by infrastructure. Crossrail, the east-west railway that became the Elizabeth line, needed a new Tottenham Court Road station, and the Astoria sat on the site. A compulsory purchase order was served; protests and petitions could not move the plan. Mayor Ken Livingstone said it plainly: 'The construction of Crossrail means that the Astoria can't be saved.'

The venue closed for good on 15 January 2009, after a final 'Demolition Ball' the night before. Demolition followed through 2009 — the Astoria one of 13 buildings taken down around Tottenham Court Road for the project. The railway it made room for opened years later; the room where a generation saw its first big gig became a station concourse.