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A sex cinema hidden beneath a south-east London shop has finally shut down after an 18-month battle with the council and neighbours.

Club 487 quietly opened without a licence in the basement of an old printing shop on New Cross Road last January, opposite a church and secondary school.

Alongside watching the explicit films, some audience members, who paid £15 to get through the door, performed sex acts there.

Earlier this year, the cinema even set up its own website, with a blog telling regulars in advance when couples and single women would be visiting.

The venue sparked an outcry from local councillors and residents. One overseas student told a Lewisham council committee last year that she had been harassed outside by cinemagoers.

She told the council: "I was accosted numerous times by men who would not take no for an answer when they were trying to chat me up outside the premises.

"This is the only place that this has happened to me while I'm in London."

A licence granted last year to only show films rated 18 or lower was revoked by the council just months later.

But the cinema, described on its site as "the last of our kind left in London", stayed open pending an appeal hearing scheduled for next month.

However, last week police moved in with bailiffs acting on behalf of the building's landlords, boarding up the venue and bringing the saga to an end.

Cinema staff confirmed on their site: "We are now closed.

"We are looking for new premises to open up a new place and as soon as we do it will be put on here."

A spokesman for New Cross Baptist Church told the Standard: "This is simply an answer to our prayers.

"We are now praying for a healthy fruitful business to replace the cinema."

Local councillor Brenda Dacre said: "I'm very pleased that the club is finally closed.

"The local community had, and continued to oppose its operation opposite a secondary school in New Cross.

"Thanks to Lewisham council's licensing and enforcement teams, as well as the local police, the adult club's closure has addressed local concerns."