A FORMER music hall will be turned into a late night labyrinth of dance floors, bars and cinemas, but only if licensers ignore pleas from people living nearby.

Once the historic Savile Theatre and then an Odeon cinema, operator Lost has put together an all-under-one-roof offering for the Shaftesbury Avenue building.

It has asked council for permission for a licensing schedule of finishing at 3am on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then a 6am close on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

It has made horrifying reading for the Covent Garden Community Association, who say they will be kept awake by late night noise and anti-social behaviour.

Jim Monahan, its founder, said: “Camden Council and especially the councillors who sit on the licensing committee probably are blissfully unaware that the ex-Odeon is slap bang in the centre of a residential area.

Jim Monahan from the Covent Garden Community Association sits in the public gallery and listens to a speech by Camden leader Richard Olszewski at Monday’s full council meeting

“Well over 60 per cent of all the buildings that immediately surround the Odeon are in residential use.”

He added: “Another dreadful aspect is that the venue is to have up to 1,103 patrons. Just imagine what that implies with potentially that number of people coming and going all night.

“The police, already grossly understaffed, clearly will never be able to control the situation with that number using the venue every day. The extension of licensing hours will exacerbate noise, public safety, criminality and pollution in the surrounding area.”

Lost is occupying the building in advance of the cinema being converted and rebuilt as a London base for the global acrobatic troupe,  Cirque de Soleil, and with a new hotel on upper floors.

Mr Monahan said Camden had already ignored residents and civic groups’ wishes by passing an application to demolish much of the listed cinema and replace it with a hotel and performance venue.

Lost says it has “transformed the former Odeon into a multi-layered venue, and a sanctuary for artists, audiences and dreamers.”

The Extra has approached Lost for comment.

In the application, they added: “The application follows a series of 6am Temporary Event Notices. The existing licensable activities and permitted hours will remain the same on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The existing operating schedule of conditions will remain the same.”