New Track

London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone confirmed this week that the Astoria is definitely to be demolished despite a campaign to save the legendary club/gig venue. “There are some instances where that just physically isn’t possible,” Livingstone told reporters. “The construction of (underground railway) Crossrail means that the Astoria can’t be saved.”

The massive building project means underground basement club the Ghetto is also facing demolition meaning the closure of seminal electroclash nightclub Nag Nag Nag, said club founder/resident DJ Fil OK. “Yes it’s true, the Ghetto’s coming down with the Astoria,” he said. “There’s no fixed date yet, but Nag will end this summer.”

“It’s sad but after a six year run we’re quite happy with what we achieved with Nag, and we’re all now ready for fresh challenges,” Fil continued. “And I’d like to send a big shout out to Simon Hobart, for what he did with Ghetto. Him opening somewhere unique like that helped us create something original with Nag,” he added.

Simon collapsed and died tragically outside his flat tragically in 2005, aged just 41 after helping create and define London’s alternative queer scene through his seminal underground clubs the Kit Kat, Pop Starz and Ghetto. While his 80s club the Kit Kat housed London’s hugely influential though much derided Goth scene, Popstarz hailed the rise of indie clubbing in the 90s, while Ghetto, particularly Nag, helped spawn electroclash in 2002.

Speaking to the Observer a year before his death, Simon poked fun at the вЂ?mainstream gay scene, with its muscle marys or crass, boy band-loving gay teenagers’ describing Popstarz and Nag as вЂ?an antidote’.“I’ve always loved clubbing – I’ve met all my boyfriends that way – but, in the early вЂ?90s, I remember feeling alienated by the homogeneous drugs and sex-obsessed gay scene.”