CBGB To Close On Halloween 2006

Legendary New York club CBGB has announced it is set to close its doors for thr final time on Halloween 2006 under a new agreement with the buildings landlords.

GBGB is widely regarded as the home of punk and was the club where bands such as The Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads made their names.

The new deal with the Bowery Residents Committee, which owns a 45 year lease on the building at 315 Bowery, appeared a long way off but the two parties relented in their disagreements after Mayor Michael Bloomberg interceded in proceedings reports Billboard.

"It's been little stipulations, back and forth -- we agreed, we didn't agree. We finally got to a point where we agreed with each other," said GBGB owner Hilly Kristal.

The BRC is a non-profit organisation which homes 250 people above the club with CBGB being its only commercial tenant.

The new deal means that CBGB must now pay $35000 a month in rent, a raise of $16000 on the previous lease, and stipulates that the venue must be vacated by October 31 2006.

Kristal has revealed that he has visited other sites in Lower Manhattan where he hopes to reopen the club, plus he hopes to open a new version in Las Vegas.

"Things are different all the time -- look at the '70s, the '80s, the '90s," Kristal said. "The most important thing is we're keeping the integrity of CBGB's. It won't be exactly the same, but it will have the same ingredients," he said.