Comedy clubs to go back to being Jongleurs

Britain’s chain of Highlight comedy clubs is to disappear – and revert back to the Jongleurs brand.

The move comes five years after Highlight was created following the collapse of Jongleurs’ former owner, Regent Inns.

After going to so-called ‘pre-pack administration’, 60 of the company’s sites were sold to a new company owned by Regent’s management, Intertain. They ran the five comedy clubs at Camden, Watford, Reading, Leeds and Birmingham as Highlights – while ownership of the Jongleurs name reverted to its founders Maria Kempinska and John Davy.

The five Highlights will be relaunched as Jongleurs again from May 1.

Comedians have been told of the ‘exciting news’ in an email from Intertain chief executive John Leslie, who also ran Regent at the time of its collapse.

He said that shows had become ‘busier and busier’ over the last 18 months and that: ‘Our expectation is that bringing the famous Jongleurs name back to our venues will boost these still further.’

The email, sent overnight, makes clear that comedians playing the five venues will continue to be paid through Intertain rather than through Jongleurs – which has a poor reputation for paying comedians on time.

Before Christmas Jongleurs promised to clear its backlog before the end of the year after the issue became public, led by comic Alistair Barrie. And while many comedians have now been paid, Chortle is aware of some who are still experiencing problems.

Jongleurs also suffered a blow in September with the collapse of Momo Leisure, which ran clubs under franchise in Nottingham, Bristol, London, Birmingham and Cardiff.

Finance director Marios Lourides has previously told Chortle that Jongleurs needs a ‘critical mass’ of clubs to secure its future – and provide work for comedians.

Intertain, which also owns the Walkabout bars, is owned by investment bank Goldman Sachs, private equity company TPG Lundy and Barclays bank. The company posted pre-tax losses of £4.88million for the year ending February 2013, the latest for which accounts have been published, which it blamed on ‘exceptional items’.

John Leslie’s email in full:

It’s been a while since my last update to you and I hope everything is going well.

I’m writing with some very exciting news! After a four year absence, I’m pleased to announce that we’re bringing the Jongleurs name back to our venues!

From 1st May, all five highlight comedy clubs in the UK (Camden, Watford, Reading, Leeds and Birmingham) will be re-launched as Jongleurs.

Jongleurs Comedy Limited (JCL) now has a new ownership structure which will enable us to bring the well-known Jongleurs name back to its spiritual home for the first time since January 2010.

All the shows will continue to be run by iNTERTAIN, using our operations and show managers. Although from May your bookings will be made through JCL, your payments will continue to be made by iNTERTAIN.

There will be no change to the current dates, so all your existing bookings will remain the same, with a view to potentially developing them in the future.

The unification of Jongleurs and highlight creates the largest stand-up comedy brand in the UK and, I hope you agree, will provide a fantastic platform for established and up and coming comedy.

We’ve seen shows get busier and busier over the last 18 months and our expectation is that bringing the famous Jongleurs name back to our venues will boost these still further.

Thanks as ever for your support, and if there’s any aspect of this you’d like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Hope to see you soon,

John Leslie.

Published: 4 Feb 2014