Popular old town nightclub and live music venue Cabaret Voltaire is set to close and be given a “wholly new look” at the end of this month.

An announcement online said, “We’d just like to let you all know that Cabaret Voltaire will be closing for refurbishment from 20th February 2012. The club is due to reopen in March, following a complete overhaul and change of name.

“Thank you to all of you for your loyal support over the past seven years, it was all of you who made us what we were.”

G1, the owners of the club, have suggested that the six-week redevelopment of the club will address structural issues but fans of the club fear that the club will lose its unique identity.

A statement released by the owners said, “Award-winning Scottish design company Surface-ID will create a new club and bar design for the venue. “The transformed bar, club and live music venue will champion the best in design, ambience and entertainment.

“The site is one of the best club spaces in the country and the company is excited about the opportunity to develop the next chapter of this landmark site.” The G1 group owns a series of entertainment venues across Scotland including GHQ, Ghillie Dhu and The Three Sisters in Edinburgh and added Cabaret Voltaire to their portfolio last June.

The outcry has been most evident online. One disappointed fan of the club posted on Facebook, “Sad times – one of my favourite gig venues. No doubt it is going to be full of bright lights, glitter and walking trust funds. RIP Cab Vol.”

A post on Facebook by the organisers of the Gasoline DanceMachine Saturday club night said, “Refurbishments will commence from February 20 and within one month the people at G1 will have converted the best underground music nightclub in Scotland into a foam party/hen night hot spot. As you may tell, our hearts are broken.”

A third year geology student at the University of Edinburgh and regular at the club told The Student, “It’s lame. I like that Cab Vol is one of the only genuinely alternative clubs in Edinburgh.”

A series of six closing ‘parties’ have been organised in the lead up to the club’s closure.

Some of the club’s seventh birthday celebrations have been cancelled because of the closure and other special events will be cancelled, postponed or relocated to a different venue.

This news comes at the same time that it has emerged that the Bongo Club is also under the threat of closure.

The building that houses the Bongo club is currently owned by the University and leased to the Edinburgh University Students’ Association but it has been suggested that the university are currently looking to end the lease.