BANDS, fans and clubbers gathered in East Oxford to give an emotional send-off to the city's premier rock venue, which has closed its doors after 12 years.

A capacity crowd packed The Zodiac, in Cowley Road, on Thursday to bid farewell to the club which has been the focus of Oxford's music scene for more than a decade.

The venue will be partially demolished and extended as part of a £2m expansion project by its owners The Academy Music Group (AMG), which bought the independently owned club for an undisclosed fee in November.

The club will reopen as The Carling Academy Oxford in September.

The closing event, dubbed the End of an Era party, featured sets by some of the Oxford bands who helped establish The Zodiac as a world-class centre of live music. Tickets sold out within hours.

The headline slot was reserved for one of the first bands to play the club after it opened in November 1995 - Candyskins, who reformed for the night.

They were joined by The Nubiles, Smilex, Dustball (who also reformed for the night), The Epstein, The Relationships and Winnebago Deal.

There was also a special guest appearance from legendary Oxford band Unbelievable Truth.

Joint compere, Tim Bearder, presenter of BBC Radio Oxford's Download music show, said: "It was a historic night, and it was great to see so many people here."

At the end of the night, familiar faces from the city's music scene joined revellers on the venue's downstairs stage to sing farewell to the club.

There were emotional scenes, and a few tears, as the crowd rounded off the night with a mass singalong to Queen's We are the Champions.

The night was organised by promoters Alan Day and the club's former owner, Nick Moorbath, of Oxford-based TCT Music.

Mr Day said: "It really is the end of an era. It is sad, and we have all had some great times here. But we will be back, bigger and better, in September."

The venue's general manger, Carl Bathgate, said: "It was a brilliant evening, a real celebration of the fantastic heritage of such a great music venue and all that's so exciting about the Oxford music scene and the people in it.

"The Zodiac has given us a good grounding to take things forward and develop our new venue, Carling Academy Oxford, driving the success and reputation Nick Moorbath built over the years."

AMG spokesman Louise Kovacs said: "AMG is investing heavily into this project, and we look forward to releasing more exciting details about our plans in the coming weeks."

Details of the new-look venue are still being finalised, but AMG says the capacity will increase from 750 to 1,150 - much of that catered for by a new main room, capable of holding 900 people.

The Zodiac's name will live on, giving its name to a smaller 436-person upstairs venue, which will host new bands. There will also be a standalone bar and club, which will hold 280 people.

Due to fire regulations, the three venues will not operate at maximum capacity at the same time.