Comedy club has last laugh with new home
ACOMEDY club has found a permanent home in the heart of Rochdale after bouncing from venue to venue for almost 10 years.
Ace Lips laughter nights has been running for almost a decade across Rochdale, Littleborough and Oldham, moving from venue to venue including Littleborough Cricket Club, The Wheatsheaf, Littleborough Conservative Club and The Green Door Restaurant.
Its founder, Rick Attwood from Wardle, and Ben Boothman, landlord of the Flying Horse Hotel on Packer Street, agreed to have a regular rib-tickling night the last Friday of each month at the hotel’s refurbished Old Court Room.
Rick said: “Rochdale town centre is an ideal venue and people I have spoken to have told me there is a need for this.
“There are the occasional comedy nights in the Rochdale borough but there isn’t an actual comedy club people can go to but now they can without having to travel to Manchester.
“It is better to have somewhere constant where audiences can go to. The community response has been great and really positive.”
Ace Lips stands for Attwood Comedy Events and the former Wardle High School pupil’s mantra is ‘laughter in public spaces’. Rick has worked with more than 100 popular comedians including Tanyalee Davis and Anna Thomas to deliver entertaining nights filled with laughter.
Past acts include Nina Gilligan, Leicester Mercury’s Comedian Of The Year 2021; Scott Bennet, Live at the Apollo; Archie Kelly from the award winning
Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Steve Royle, who helped raise money for three defibrillators in Rochdale town centre.
The entertainment provider also did a fun night called ‘Floods of Laughter’ at Littleborough Cricket Club to raise money for those affected by the unprecedented Boxing Day floods in 2015 caused by Storm Eva.
The next Ace Lips event is at 8.30pm on Friday, May 6, at The Flying Horse with a fantastic line-up of Ignacio Lopez, Pete Selwood, Danny Deegan, Ant Grogan and Thom Butterworth. ● TICKETS are available online at What’s Occurin in Rochdale, Skiddle and Eventbrite.