The last Laugh: another club to close

Sarah Millican, Michael McIntyre and John Bishop have all played the Laugh Inn in the past three years – but it wasn’t enough.

Co-owner John Locke has today announced that the purpose-built comedy club in Chester is to close its doors because of poor ticket sales.

It was a case of “having big dreams without deep pockets”, he said, adding that the venue was possibly “too big” for the North West city.

In a post on Facebook, Locke paid tribute to the Laugh Inn staff who “put their hearts and souls” into the club, but admitted that it never made the money it needed to sustain the business.

“We supplied Chester with some of the finest comedy the UK had to offer but we just never got the numbers in we needed regularly and we have come to the end of the road.”

Jason Manford, who backed the club when it was starting out, said the Laugh Inn was “another victim of the recession.”

“I tried to help out a few times with money and publicity to help save the staff jobs there but in the end it was not enough,” he added.

Meanwhile, club comics including Mick Ferry, Seymour Mace and Justin Moorhouse have paid tribute to the Laugh Inn, widely regarded as one of the best rooms to play in the North West.

Ferry, who plays there for the final time tonight, said: “It’ll be a night of mixed emotions. I’ll want to be funny but will be sad for all the wonderful staff.”

Moorhouse added that it was a “great room” ran by “great people.”

The Laugh Inn is the latest in a spate of comedy clubs closing across the UK, with reports indicating The Hyena in Newcastle could be the next venue to go.