Rawhide heads for new Liverpool venue

Liverpool's biggest comedy club is moving to a £1.5million purpose-built venue.

After three years in its current home on Albert docks, the Rawhide club is moving to the Stables building on Grafton Street, which was formerly the stables housing the dray horses serving the Cains Brewery.

Club owner Kevin Fearon, said: "We are delighted to have found such a great site in the city centre.

"It's taken us two years to find the right building but it has been worth it. We feel now we can play our part in the work towards Capital of Culture 2008."

Sudarghara Dusanj, joint managing director of Cains Brewery said: " The stables are ideal ­ they quite clearly aren't needed for our business any more and at night there is ample parking for visitors."

Rawhide has been held in the Baby Blue venue since September 2000, and in the past year has regularly sold out, prompting the move to a bigger venue

Fearon set up Rawhide in February 1995 as a monthly event in the Everyman Theatre foyer and 1998 saw the move to the Life Cafe in Bold Street. He financed the move by remortgaging his own flat and for the first few years the business was run out f his front room.

The doors will open at the new venue in April 2004 and until then Rawhide will be at Baby Blue very Friday and Saturday night.

Published: 25 Sep 2003