Hotel is just for rockers

Iron Maiden, one of heavy metal's most infamous bands, is launching Britain's first hotel designed solely for rock stars.

The band's management and nightclub owner Mark Fuller will open the £6.5 million Sanctum Soho Hotel next month.

The 30-room hotel will have specialised security to keep out the paparazzi, and the receptionist will be dressed all in black. The mini-bars are hidden in giant speaker stacks and the main bar never closes. However, Ben Groom, the hotel's publicist, said: "It's not a hotel for throwing televisions out of the window. It's going to be a sexy hotel." A brief stay in a crash-room costs from £150, and top-priced suites, called Naked Luxe, are £500 a night.

Iron Maiden's members have mellowed in their later years. Singer Bruce Dickinson sometimes works as a commercial airline pilot and drummer Nicko McBrain is an obsessive golfer.