It is cramped, sweaty and defiantly uncomfortable but no one lucky enough to see the Rolling Stones, Nirvana or Arctic Monkeys perform at the Astoria ever minded.

But sentiment, popularity and the lack of other substantial live music venues in Central London will not be enough to save the historic auditorium from demolition.

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, has confirmed that the 2,000capacity former theatre will be knocked down to make way for the capital’s new Crossrail service, and will close at the end of the year.

“The construction of Crossrail means that the Astoria can’t be saved,” the mayor said. He added that a new, plusher concert venue would be included in the new development in Tottenham Court Road. Mr Livingstone said: “It wasn’t at the cutting edge of modern comfort.” Barry Hyde, the lead singer of the Futureheads said: “Venues should be dirty, they should be a bit smelly because smelly things happen in venues. Sweaty people had fun and the Astoria was always something you’d look forward to.”

Richard Archer, the frontman for Hard-Fi, agreed. “A lot of these older venues have something about them,” he said. “They were built for live performance and this is one more gone.”

Throughout its 32-year history as a concert venue, the Astoria had a star-making role for breakthrough acts.

Nick Hodgson, the drummer in Kaiser Chiefs, said booking the Astoria had been a big moment, “because it was the venue to play”.

An online petition, Save The Astoria, supported by acts such as Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Maximo Park, Jamie T, the Cribs and Feargal Sharkey, the former Undertones singer, has already attracted 35,000 signatures. Jade Dickinson, one of two students behind the campaign, said: “It’s literally eroding London’s cultural heritage.”

The building in Charing Cross Road was first opened in 1927 as a cinema and was converted to a theatre in 1976. A spokesperson for Live Nation, which manages the Astoria, said: “We believe it should be preserved for future generations.”

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