One of the borough's best known nightclubs, the Blue Orchid, and its sister pub Heroes have closed after failing to get enough people through the doors.

The club in Park Lane issued a statement yesterday (Tuesday) thanking its customers for their loyal support.

General manager Andy Millichamp said every effort would be made to refund customers who had bought tickets in advance for Christmas and new year celebrations.

The club had been managed by The Nightclub Company after its owners First Leisure, the UK's second largest pub and nightclub operator, went into receivership in May.

In its heyday the Blue Orchid had people queuing round the block on a Friday and Saturday night.

But in recent months it is believed the club's manager had struggled to fill the venue, leading First Leisure's receivers RSM Robson Rhodes to call for its closure.

The Blue Orchid, which has been running for 18 years, was highly commended in last year's Best Bar None scheme set up to recognise Croydon's best run bars.

In the last year celebrities like Blue's Simon Webbe and Footballers' Wives star Gary Lucy attended the club.

But the club had also become notorious for attracting underage drinkers, earning it the nickname the Blue School Kid.

Before the Blue Orchid the nightspot was known as the Croydon Greyhound, attracting bands like The Damned and The Buzzcocks.

The end of the Blue Orchid follows the closure in July of two other Croydon clubs Cinatra's and Watertown.

A spokesman for the Nightclub Company said: "The receivers have now taken the decision to close the venue for commercial reasons, with immediate effect.

"The Nightclub Company has offered the venue's staff positions at its other nightclubs and it is therefore hoped that there will be a minimum number of redundancies."