A pub which was once a favourite with music lovers flocking to Hammersmith Palais has been restored as a shrine to the long-lost venue.
The Laurie Arms, at the bottom of Shepherds Bush Road, Hammersmith, was for many years a popular watering hole with gig-goers heading next door to see everyone from the Beatles to the Sex Pistols.
It reopens to the public on Thursday (February 26) as the seventh Draft House, a chain of inns specialising in craft beers from across the world.
The chain’s founder Charlie McVeigh said a "little bit of me died" when he heard the Palais was being torn down in 2012, five years after closing, to make way for luxury student flats.
He jumped at the chance to buy the neighbouring pub and help preserve its musical heritage for those like him with fond memories of gigs at the Palais.
"The interior and playlist will be a celebration of the Hammersmith Palais. Many of us have happy, sweaty, pogo-ing memories of the Palais and a little bit of me died when I heard it was being torn down," he said.
"Original gig posters and photos from the interior will serve as a permanent memorial to the place."
The pub’s stained-glass windows have been restored and the Victorian cladding has been painted with song lyrics from bands which played at the Palais. The pub has also been expanded to incorporate a neighbouring industrial unit and features a cobbled garden.
Alongside a range of beers, both draught and bottled, it will serve cocktails from optics bottles at £5 each and will offer a range of handmade pies.
The Hammersmith Palais, originally called the Palais de Danse, opened as a ballroom in 1919. It went on to host countless top acts, before The Fall bought the curtain down for good by playing the final gig there in April 2007.
Take a look through the history of the Hammersmith Palais in our nostalgic gallery below:
