Promoters cease trading

A string of major comedy events have been cancelled following the collapse of its promoter – leaving ticket-holders out of pocket.

John Bishop was initially announced to headline a string of Comedy In The Park gigs, in which he would have been joined by the likes of Jason Manford, Rob Beckett, Al Murray, Katherine Ryan and Dara O Briain.

But promoter M&B Promotions has now stopped trading, blaming the Covid pandemic.

The shows were originally scheduled to have taken place in Kettering, Lincolnshire, Southport, Edinburgh, Leeds, Exeter and Norwich last year.

At the time the gigs were announced, M&B said they are ‘confident’ the events would go ahead whatever the Covid situation – but in the end they were postponed until this year, although no replacement dates were formally announced.

Chortle also understands that the comedians originally advertised for 2021 had not been rebooked to perform replacement gigs this year. With many now on their own tours, it is unlikely they would have agreed to do the line-up gigs.

Despite promises that payments would be refunded, many ticket-holders have taken to social media to say they have been unable to get their money back as too much time has passed since they booked.

One said: ‘Disgrace!!! Both bank and PayPal refusing to refund as the tickets were originally purchased end of 2020 and it has now been too long to raise a dispute or request charge back! May as well [have] burnt £100 in the street!’

Another said: ’I’ve just got off the phone with @LloydsBank and been told that they cannot issue a chargeback as it has been too long. So, because they rescheduled the event (Comedy in the park, Norwich), and then cancelled, essentially no one that booked that event can get their money back..’

A third said: ‘Paid £205.50 for my husband for Christmas, now they've gone bust! Barclays told me it's too late to do anything about it which M&B promotions probably knew.’

In a statement released yesterday, the company said: ‘It is with a heavy heart and deep regret that we must announce the cancellation of all of the scheduled events organised by M&B promotions, and the end of operations for both M&B Promotions Ltd and  Simple Ticketing Ltd.

‘We were amongst many high-profile event organisers forced to reschedule many events due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, this combined with the extreme logistical and financial setbacks caused by the pandemic mean it’s no longer viable for us to continue trading.

‘We have contacted all customers, artists, venues and suppliers to notify them of this terrible situation we have found ourselves in.

‘We would like to thank the artists that have worked with us, the venues that have hosted our events and the thousands of people who have supported us by attending our past events.

‘To those who have been let down by this situation, we are deeply sorry. Ticket holders for any cancelled event who purchased tickets via easyticketing.co.uk should contact either Paypal for a refund or your bank/credit card provider to administer a charge back. If tickets were purchased anywhere else, please contact your point of purchase.’

Venues appeared to be taken by surprise by the move. Southport’s Victoria Park said in their statement that they were ‘extremely disappointed’ by the news.

They said: ‘We only received the news yesterday afternoon via email without any warning. There are a number of other venues across the UK who have suffered the same fate and we have all lost potential income through hiring our outdoor spaces to them.’

And a spokesman for Wicksteed Park told the Northamptonshire Telegraph: ‘We absolutely share and appreciate the confusion and frustration that M&B Promotions have caused over this event.’

Other comics scheduled to appear at the 2021 festivals included  Paul Chowdhry, Judi Love, Russell Kane, Ed Gamble, Fern Brady, Nish Kumar, and Phil Wang.

When the gigs were postponed last year, M&B told ticket holders they would not be refunding money, but would be held over for the 2022 shows that have now been dropped.

The company said then: ‘We are a small independent company…. Our ticketing terms and conditions were put in place to safeguard our company during a period of great uncertainty.’

It also claimed that ‘lots of bigger promoters and ticket agents have a similar policy for rescheduled shows’.

They said: ‘In the event that any event is cancelled full refunds will be offered but we do not believe this will be the case.’

However, holding on to punters’ money for shows did nothing to ‘safeguard the company’ – and now they have collapsed, the fans appear to be left out of pocket.

M&B had also advertised events featuring McFly and UB40 this year.

Published: 10 Feb 2022