A new Leicester comedy festival, founded by performers left out of pocket by the previous organisers, has secured the backing of Sir Peter Soulsby.
Earlier this week, local comedy promoter Colin Bowles and stand-up performer Alex Hylton confirmed that the Independent Comedy Festival will take place in February 2027.
Hundreds of shows from rising comics and established faces will take to venues including The Y Theatre, Firebug, Real Ale Classroom and Oadby Royal British Legion.
The news comes after The Big Difference Company, which ran the original Leicester Comedy Festival for decades, went into insolvency.
Hundreds of comedians had not been paid by the charity following this year’s event and, in July, the venue was repossessed after missing rent and insurance payments.
Leicester City Council had previously pledged that some form of comedy festival would go ahead. Today (August 14), city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby confirmed the Independent Comedy Festival has his full support.
He said:: “I don’t think anybody was entirely expecting that such a credible proposal would come forward so amazingly quickly.
“But what’s very encouraging is just how much enthusiasm and expertise they’ve got – it’s quite clear that they are a very competent pair who can deliver and I’m very happy to back them.
“The comedy scene is very important to the city. It brings a bit of warmth in the depths of winter and it’s obviously also good for the venues, because for many of them that’s a challenging time of year.
“But it’s also much more generally very good for the economy of Leicester because it brings people in from around the country. It’s brilliant, and if we lost it, it would have been a major blow.”
Sir Peter added that alongside “practical help”, there is also a “very real” prospect of providing the event with a “modest degree of financial support”.
By Caitlin James (Local Democracy Reporter)
