Paris' Moulin Rouge still alive and high-kicking on its 125th birthday

As quintessentially Parisian as the Eiffel Tower, the Moulin Rouge cabaret has celebrated its 125th anniversary - and is in very good shape considering its age.

Immortalised by painter Toulouse-Lautrec and more recently by Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's eponymous film, the red neon windmill in Paris' Pigalle red-light district is still pulling in the punters.

The Moulin Rouge is sold out nearly every night for its two two-hour shows, seven nights a week, 365 nights a year, for tourists and locals in roughly even numbers.

Its vital statistics are impressive: an occupancy rate of 97 per cent, 600,000 guests a year and 450 staff, generating an annual turnover of €65 million (HK$ 636 million).

Attracted by the history and mild titillation of the 60 can-canning Doriss Girls, tourists come in their droves, led by the Chinese, Russians and Americans.

They come to drink in the champagne - 240,000 bottles a year, making it the world's biggest consumer outside wholesale retailers - and the history, knowing that Edith Piaf, Liza Minnelli and Frank Sinatra have all trodden the boards here.