A pub has been forced to cancel 14 live music gigs while £15,000 worth of emergency improvements are made.

Chris Steward, landlord of The Prince Albert, has closed the upper floor of the Trafalgar Street pub in Brighton while a replacement fire escape is installed and pipes and cooling equipment are moved.

Mr Steward, 55, was ordered to carry out the work to make the venue safe following a joint inspection a fortnight ago by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, Brighton and Hove City Council and Sussex Police.

Bruce Townsend, a fire safety inspector who has been in talks for six weeks with Mr Steward about the improvements, said there were also reports of overcrowding at the pub.

Mr Steward had hoped to have the work finished by Saturday when England take on Paraguay in their first World Cup match but yesterday he said that was looking "less and less likely".

He said: "Some work has been done but it could take longer than a week. Hopefully it will be finished within a month. We are trying to do it with minimum interruption and disruption.

"We are doing all we can to make sure everybody is safe, and we keep the fire brigade and the city council happy."

He said the pub would be open as normal and a regular DJ would continue to play downstairs.

He hopes to rebook all the bands scheduled to play this week after the work has been completed.

Mr Townsend said: "The building needs to be made safe for the protection of the users. We are trying to be sympathetic to the ambience of the place but the bottom line is safety. The quicker it gets done the better."

Dave Morrison, who runs music promotions company Gilded Poets of Sin with business partner Shaun Whitehouse, had organised a gig for Viarosa and Brighton support band Salter Cane at the pub tomorrow.

He said: "It's frustrating but we have had five or six gigs cancelled at different places so we are getting used to it. I can totally understand it from a safety point of view."

Mr Morrison, 45, who held his wedding reception in the pub's upstairs room three years ago, said: "It can get quite busy in there but no more than any other venue. The room is quite narrow so that can make it look busy.

"The Prince Albert is a great venue so I just hope they can sort this out as quickly as possible for Brighton's gig-goers. As soon as they are ready we will be back booking our gigs."