Ticket sales up 22 per cent

The Leicester Comedy Festival has beaten its own box-office record, selling 22 per cent more tickets than last year.

A total of 80,000 tickets were sold for this year’s event, which finished its 19-day run yesterday, up from almost 66,000 in 2016. 

With just over 800 individual events taking place in 62 venues across the city, that averages nearly 100 tickets per event. And the sales figures do not include the estimated 35,000 tickets issued for free events.

Comedians with sold-out shows ranged from Stewart Lee to Sootie; Ken Dodd to Joe Lycett and Johnny Vegas to Sue Perkins; as well as special events such as the UK Pun Championships and the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year competition, which was won by Alasdair Beckett-King on Saturday night.

The festival also says it benefits the county to the tune of  £3million, with around a third of all attendees travelling from further afield.

Director Geoff Rowe, pictured, founded the festival 24 years ago when a student at De Montfort University, with just 21 comedians taking part over nine days, including Matt Lucas and Harry Hill.

He said: ‘Leicester Comedy Festival 2017 has surpassed all expectations to become the most successful of our 24-year history. I am very grateful to all the people who make the festival possible; the festival team, the performers, our venues and the audiences who often travel from around the UK. 

‘We’ve had a fantastic year and will now get some sleep before we start planning for our 25th festival in 2018.’

That will take place from February 7 to 25.

Published: 27 Feb 2017