ONE of Newport’s busiest and best loved live music venues is up for sale.

Le Pub, on Caxton Place, is due to stage a party next month to celebrate its 20th birthday – but there are fears that its impending sale might bring two decades of live music to an end.

Sale details have yet to be formally released, but Le Pub is being sold through city estate agent Davis and Sons.

The venue is being sold as a going concern, but would not have to continue as a site for live music.

It has become a favourite of gig-goers from Newport and beyond since opening in 1992.

Among the hundreds of acts to have graced its tiny stage are indie-rock stalwarts British Sea Power, who have had two top-ten albums, and South Wales rock band Kids In Glass Houses, who have racked up three top 30 albums in the last five years.

But Le Pub’s key role has been as an outlet for local acts to perform, for music fans to gather, and for lesserknown bands from far and wide to perform their music to a new audience.

Le Pub may well remain as a live venue, but its sale – three years after the city’s Legendary TJs club closed – has sparked fears among regulars that a well-loved space for live music might be lost.

On Twitter (#savelepub) regulars and music fans and bands have been busy posting comment and conjecture at the sale news.

Valleys-based band Man Of The Hour tweeted that the sale is “more sad news for a dying music scene” while another message calls for “someone with the right intentions” to come in and save the venue.

Le Pub’s 20th birthday party is planned for Friday, July 27.

No-one from Le Pub was available for comment.