Princess Anne will officially open Brighton's renovated Dome theatre. The news comes the day after the venue's relaunch performance was abandoned.

The Princess Royal, who will perform the ceremony on Monday March 18, personally expressed a wish to see the concert hall, according to a Dome source.

Her elder brother, the Prince of Wales, took an interest in the restoration of the neighbouring Royal Pavilion.

The Princess will look in at rehearsals for a concert on the day but will not visit a show.

The Dome spokesman said: "We are delighted that she can perform the official opening."

Meanwhile, last night's concert to relaunch the Dome was axed at the 11th hour when its £22 million refit failed a fire safety test.

Fire service inspectors refused to issue a safety certificate during their final check at 5pm on Saturday.

They discovered fire alarms were beeping loudly once a minute and could only be silenced by switching off the system.

Dome staff spent Saturday evening contacting the 1,500 people with tickets for yesterday's afternoon concert by the 84-strong Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra.

Nick Dodds, chief executive of the Dome, said: "It became clear we weren't able to get the fire alarms fixed so I had to take the decision to cancel.

"It's a blow to the staff and the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra who were all ready to go."

Engineers were at the Dome today to begin repairs in time for the glitzy Storming The Dome opening extravaganza on Saturday.

It will feature 500 local singers and dancers plus the 80-strong London Philharmonic Orchestra, who will mark the opening of the venue after a three-year silence.

Mr Dodds promised everything would be done to make Saturday's concert happen, saying: "We are confident this issue will be resolved by then."

Jerry Laurie, of King's Esplanade, Hove, bought tickets for yesterday's concert.

He said: "I was disappointed when we were phoned and told of the cancellation.

"But I was also grateful to the person who made the tough decision to stop the concert. Music is wonderful but so is life."

Jackie Lythell, Brighton and Hove city councillor and chairman of the Brighton and Hove Philharmonic Society, said: "The orchestra is devastated. The musicians were so looking forward to it."

Brighton and Hove city councillors, including mayor Harry Steer, toured the Dome and the museum last Monday.

Coun Mark Barnard said: "There were still people working on the carpets and the Dome glass was not in place. There seemed a lot still to do."

The Dome was built as a grandiose stable for the Prince of Wales in 1803.

The great domed roof, 80ft in diameter and 65ft high, was one of the largest in the world.

The refurbishment has been monitored by English Heritage to ensure every historical aspect of the building has been preserved.

Work at the venue, where Jimi Hendrix played and Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo, was beset with delays from day one.

In February 1999 work was held up because of a 30-year-old elm tree in the Pavilion gardens. Architects were sent back to the drawing board to redesign the scheme around it at a cost of £130,000.

It was originally due to be finished last July but missed that deadline when structural problems were uncovered.