A popular live venue is to close after months battling to pay its business rates.

Music and comedy institution the Iguana Bar, in Chorlton, will call last orders tomorrow.

But it may reopen within months amid hopes of a possible reprieve.

Pascal Paschalis, owner of the Manchester Road bar, was last year hit with a £7,200 annual increase in business rates by the government’s Valuation Office Agency(VOA).

Pascal’s story was covered in the M.E.N. earlier this month after he complained that businesses in other parts of Chorlton paid much lower rates.

The VOA is understood to have contacted the Iguana owner following the article in a renewed attempt to resolve the dispute.

Pascal, 55, said: “I am closing the bar on Saturday for the time being but there is a strong possibility that Iguana will reopen following a refurbishment - but it all depends on what happens with the business rates.”

“I having working all the hours God sends and I need to think of my health and take a rest. It’s been a labour of love and I am not just going to walk away because of high rates.”

The Iguana owner – who said that the closure was ‘like a bereavement’ – will not have to pay business rates for three months when he closes, giving Iguana potentially vital breathing space.

Since it opened in 1999, comedians Alan Carr, Jason Manford, Justin Moorhouse and Roy Walker have all played Iguana’s famous open mic night. Musicians who played at Iguana’s long-running Tuesday open mic night have already set up the Chorlton Musicians’ Network so they can stay in touch.

Electronic musician James O'Shea, said: “The bar was a way of musicians sticking together and we were talking on Tuesday night, saying we don’t want to lose that.”

A spokesman for the VOA said: “The Valuation Office Agency has recently handled appeals for a number of pubs in Manchester and will schedule others for later in the year.

“However, where there is evidence of hardship, the VOA will seek to prioritise these appeals.

“We encourage anyone who has reason to believe that their rateable value does not reflect the rental value of their property to talk to us in the first instance so we can resolve any issues”.

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