Poor ticket sales blamed for cancellation

The head of crisis-hit Leicester Comedy Festival has blamed poor ticket sales on the cancellation of its outdoor summer festival.

Organisers yesterday pulled the plug on LCF In The Park gig, set to feature the likes of Lou Sanders,  Phil Ellis and Tom Rosenthal, with just ten days' notice.

It comes after the charity behind it, The Big Difference Company, sparked anger by leaving comedians unpaid for festival shows in February.

Although ticket-holders were given no reason for the abrupt cancellation beyond ‘unforeseen circumstances’ chief executive Michael Harris-Wakelam has now revealed the event in Abbey Park was not selling well.

He told Chortle in a statement: ‘We have taken the decision to cancel LCF in the Park because of poor ticket sales. We hope to be able to bring a summer event back to Leicester next year. Customers have been contacted regarding refunds for their purchase."

Although comedy fans will the £30 admission price back, they will ot be refunded their £3-a-ticket booking fees.

In April, Chortle was the first to report that hundreds of performers were still owed money from their festival ticket sales, with organisers The Big Difference Company blaming cash-flow problems. At the time, festival chiefs said they put their ‘operational expenditure’ over paying comedians.

However, when the BBC picked up the story last month, chief executive  Michael Harris-Wakelam then told them he was now ‘prioritising’  settling the debts to artists ‘to the detriment of some of our other planned activities’.

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Published: 5 Jun 2026