However, as of yesterday (Thursday), all of the posters advertising upcoming events had been pulled from the noticeboard and steel shutters blocked the entrance.

The Moray Jazz Club have been one of the main users since it reopened as an arts venue and theatre in 2006. It has held weekly jazz meetings and concerts but is now searching for a new home.

Club secretary Allan Haddow said they only received notification of the theatre's planned closure on Tuesday this week. He said there was little more explanation.

"I initially got an email from them telling us it would be closing. I gave them a phone and they confirmed that would be the case," he said. "I got the impression that it's a permanent thing, but I don't know all of the details.

"There had been some vague rumours for a while but we had not given them any credence. It has come pretty much like a bolt out of the blue."

Mr Haddow said that while the 80-strong jazz club searches for a new base, it has cancelled all of its meetings. "It is a perfect venue, and as you can imagine, we are quite gutted about losing it," he said. "Our members enjoyed meeting there and performing there. It had great acoustics."

One of the Red Shoes' occasional performers, who did not wish to be named, said she heard two weeks ago that the building may be facing closure.

However, she received no explanation.

"It's a shock to me that it has closed," she said. "They have told me nothing."

Keith Edwards, appointed director of the Red Shoes Theatre in January, currently runs his architectural business out of the same South College Street building. His wife Henrietta is the artistic director, while daughter Stephanie runs the theatre café.

Calls to the theatre were not being answered yesterday, while a note on the front of the building stated: "Most of the Red Shoes Theatre and Strawberry Fields Café staff are taking a well-deserved break for the next two weeks. Reception will be manned for a couple of hours each morning to deal with bookings and enquiries."

Elgin City South councillor John Divers said he was unsure what the current position was. However, with fond memories of the place from when he first moved to Moray in 1967, he said he would be disappointed if the doors were indeed closed permanently.

"As an entertainment venue for Elgin and the wider Moray area, it will be missed," he said. "There are people I am aware of who started playing concerts there, and others who have gone there and thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment.

"It would certainly be a shame to lose that facility."

The Red Shoes has a long history. In the 1960s, the building was known as 'The Two Red Shoes' and played host to gigs by up-and-coming bands such as the Beatles, Kinks and the Who.

It later became a cafe, a second-hand furniture store, a dry cleaner's and squash courts, before it re-opened in 2006 as The Red Shoes Theatre. Most recently, it has been hosting drama, music and crafts classes, but has also staged concerts, film festivals, plays, and weekly open mic nights.

A private business, the Red Shoes Theatre does not receive any grants or subsidies from Moray Council.

A council spokesman said yesterday that there has so far been no increase in booking requests for council facilities, from groups who previously used the Red Shoes.

j.millican@northern-scot.co.uk

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