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Stars mourn legendary Red Rose Comedy Club
Evening Standard 14 Jan 2008One of London's oldest and most respected comedy clubs is to shut down after 20 years.
The Red Rose Comedy Club in Finsbury Park has been given two weeks' notice to leave the hall it is held in. The building is being sold and will become a snooker hall attached to the Red Rose pub.
Comedians Jack Dee, Russell Brand, Jo Brand, Al Murray, Jimmy Carr, Eddie Izzard and Harry Hill cut their teeth at the venue in Seven Sisters Road.
Carr said: "It's a great shame. When I started out six years ago, they used to give me £20 for a gig. The audience really knew their comedy and were difficult to please."
Dee, who played there in the late Eighties, said: "I always had a good time there and enjoyed the camaraderie."
Promoter Jon Briley said it was "a real kick in the teeth" to be told to move out.
The hall has also been home to Islington North Labour Party since the Thirties and marchers on the Jarrow Crusade rested there in 1936. A farewell show will take place next Saturday.
Reader views (1)
The Red Rose venue is to open again as a weekly comedy venue! The new promoters The Gag Club will be having 4 great comedians event Friday night starting from Friday 27th February.
- Sean Brownson, London, 11/02/2009 23:36
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