In the glory days of the 1990s, Reg Livermore shows packed 'em in at The Clarendon in Katoomba.
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In fact, for nearly 100 years, since its opening in 1923, the hotel/guesthouse has hosted musical performances, anything from hot jazz to Sydney bands to dinner shows to cabaret.
But those days are no more. The performance area has been demolished to be replaced with more hotel rooms.
The owners, who bought the building a couple of years ago, have been stopped mid-renovation after reports that they were doing work without the proper consents.
But of more importance to Katoombans and music lovers is the demise of a once thriving venue.
Bob Charter, who has run the Blue Mountains Music Festival for 27 years, owned the Clarendon for three decades with his wife, Annette.
"We initially started as a theatre company then we started our own shows in 1978 and proceeded to 40 or 50 shows," Mr Charter said.
The cabaret king, Reg Livermore, came out of retirement in 1989 to put on a show there, set in the Katoomba-Leura area. It played five nights a week for five months.
Livermore subsequently performed six different shows over the next decade.
After the Charters sold the Clarendon, later owners failed to keep up maintenance work. When he learnt that the current owners were going to dismantle the performance space and replace it with more hotel rooms, Mr Charter managed to get all his old show posters from inside.
"It's very sad and the more I think about it I shed tears. It was in bad repair. Two subsequent owners didn't do anything to it, did nothing to improve it and let it run down," Mr Charter said.
But he believed that the front bar will be retained and sublet to another operator.
Work at the site has been temporarily stopped, a Blue Mountains City council spokeswoman said.
"An investigation officer has undertaken an inspection of the property confirming certain works have been undertaken without necessary development consent. A stop work order has been issued and council's investigations are continuing."
Attempts to contact the owners were unsuccessful.
