Staff at a Woolwich theatre threatened with redevelopment came to work this morning only to find all the locks had been changed.

Last July, Greenwich Council's planning board approved plans to demolish the building and replace it with flats and a smaller "cultural space", despite an online campaign to keep it open.

And Adrian Green from the Woolwich Grand Theatre wrote on the venue's Facebook page today (April 10) that all activities would now cease "with immediate effect."

It is understood an eviction notice has been put up on the building on behalf of its private developers. 

Mr Green wrote: "It is with sad regret that I announce as from immediate effect all activities at the building known as the Woolwich grand are to cease. 

"For those who know, the building is to be redeveloped to make way for fiats. Although always on the cards I never knew when I would be asked to leave until now. 

"To come in to work and fine all the locks changed is very stressful when a simple phone call and a notice period would have done. The community space that was allotted in the new building will not happen as this will be lost to bureaucracy. 

"So I would like to thank everyone who supported and championed are cause, big hug."

He then quoted the Dylan Thomas poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.

The theatre opened in 2011 in a former cinema and nightclub on Wellington Street. After demolition, all that will remain of its previous history will be a plaque.