Stand-up has become 'much less profitable'

Highlight is axing comedy nights at four of its nine venues.

The purpose-built comedy clubs in Glasgow, Leicester and Portsmouth are now likely to concentrate on music and club nights, with the Edinburgh venue likely to close completely.

Live comedy will be withdrawn from the venues by February after becoming ‘much less profitable’ according to parent company Intertain.

The move leaves just five Highlight comedy venues in Birmingham, Camden, Leeds, Watford and Reading.

The news was broken to comedians and agents in an email from Intertain’s chief executive, John Leslie.

The closures come just two years after the Highlight brand was launches from the embers of Regent Inns, the failed company which owned the Jongleurs comedy clubs. Some venues were rebranded Highlight, and others closed or sold.

Mr Leslie said the company now wanted to concentrate on its ‘main brand’ – the Walkabout Australian-themed pubs.

In the summer, Intertain announced that it had lost £29million in the first 67 weeks of trading since the collapse of Regent Inns in October 2009. The company had recently been offering deals such as £9 tickets that also included a beer and a burger

At the time of writing, tickets remain on sale for several cancelled shows on Highlight’s website.

Here is the full text of Mr Leslie’s email:

Dear Comedians and Comedy Agents.

We are pleased to be completing a second year in business at highlight and I’d like to thank you all for your hard work and loyalty.  

The Christmas show season is now upon us and the line-ups are truly fantastic. We’ve sold more tickets this year than in previous years, so we’re looking forward to some really cracking shows.

Going into the New Year we will, as always, be totally committed to providing top quality stand-up comedy and  a platform for the best comedy talent the UK has to offer. However in a few areas the shows have become much less profitable, so we are having to withdraw comedy from those venues.

This only affects a few venues, and although comedy is being withdrawn from Glasgow, Leicester and Portsmouth, shows will continue in Birmingham, Camden, Leeds, Watford and Reading.

The withdrawals will allow those venues concerned to focus on the increasing success of the thriving club nights, live music, and on our main brand, Walkabout. Increasing our profitability in these locations will also allow us to continue to support live comedy in other parts of the country.

On a separate note, it is with regret that I have to inform you that we will very probably be losing our current Edinburgh venue towards the end of February 2012. We don’t want to close the venue, but as is often the case on the high street, we lease the building from a landlord, and we have reached the break period in our lease.   We have made a rent offer to the landlord to stay on, but for reasons best known to themselves, they have not responded. We will continue to try and negotiate but we are not hopeful of a successful outcome.

We are extremely disappointed, but there is absolutely nothing we can do about it and we have no option other than to move out.

None of the above changes will come into effect until Jan / Feb 2012, so all highlight Christmas shows that you have been booked for will run as scheduled.

Thank you once again for your support; I hope you have a great Christmas season.

Kind regards,

Yours sincerely

John Leslie
CEO iNTERTAIN Limited

Published: 1 Dec 2011