Scottish comedy club heads south

Scottish comedy club The Stand is expanding, with a new custom-built venue in Newcastle – its biggest room yet.

The new 250-seater club is to be built in the basement of the former Wards building in the city centre, recently refurbished by Newcastle City Council to form the High Bridge Gallery in a project that ran more than twice its £4.7million budget and five years late.

The Stand has now struck adeal with the council to lease the premises for 25 years. Work on transforming the derelict, former Mexican restaurant site is scheduled to begin at Easter and is expected to cost around £750,000, with the club planned to open around October.

The news comes as former Comedy Store manager John Locke prepares to open another purpose-built venue, The Laugh Inn, in Chester, next month with comedy at least four nights a week.

The Stand’s new venture will be open seven nights a week, including the club’s established Red Raw open mic night and improv and sketch nights during the week.

Director Tommy Sheppard said: ‘We’ve been looking for premises in Newcastle for many years and we are delighted that we’ve finally identified the right location/

‘At the moment the basement is derelict and we are pretty much starting from scratch. We have a lot of work to do but when finished this will not only complete the development of a major arts complex  but provide an excellent new entertainment facility for the people of Newcastle.’

Local comic Sarah Millican said she was delighted to see the club open in her home town. ‘The Stand Comedy Clubs have always been my favourite places to play and seeing as Newcastle makes great audiences, I have no doubt that this will be a roaring success,’ she said.

The Stand started in an Edinburgh pub basement in 1995, moving to its current site – which Stewart Lee has called the ‘perfect comedy room’ – in 1998. A second venue opened in Glasgow’s West End in 2000. They have dominated the Chortle Awards for Scotland’s best comedy club in the decade since.

The Stands banned hen and stag parties in 2009 and Sheppard says: ‘Newcastle is a great party city but we think the emphasis on catering for hen and stag nights by existing clubs means a lot of local customers are overlooked.

‘We aim to provide a venue where couples and small groups of friends can appreciate the thrill of live stand-up comedy in intimate and friendly surroundings. Big groups wanting to get hammered will need to go elsewhere.’

Meanwhile, Chester’s Laugh Inn – which seats 450 in its main room with another 150 in a bar – is set to open to the public on February 4.

Work on converting the former Deva Show Bar into the club is well under way, with Locke promising film nights, theatre productions, poetry, music and club nights as well as comedy Thursday to Sunday.

Published: 24 Jan 2011