The organisers of this summer’s Whitchurch Comedy Festival today warned it was on the verge of being cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

Funny Beeseness are due to bring top TV comics Gary Delaney, Shappi Khorsandi, Hal Cruttenden and Mick Miller to the town’s Civic Centre over a weekend at the end of June.

But less than 200 tickets have been sold for the four shows from June 23 to June 26.

And organisers said today unless there was a surge of support for the festival in the next week or so, they would have no option but to pull the plug on it and move out of Whitchurch altogether.

Funny Beeseness has been putting shows on in the town since 2018, having brought the likes of Milton Jones, Omid Djalili, Ed Byrne and Rich Hall to local audiences.

Director Wayne Beese said: "To say we’re disappointed with ticket sales would be the understatement of the year.

"We have put together four incredible line-ups over a weekend. It’s not just the TV acts, the supports are all headliners in their own right and among the very best on the circuit.

"What’s most disappointing is that Whitchurch isn’t getting behind it, only around a third of ticket buyers so far are actually from the town.

"We have got people coming from Luton, Liverpool, Wigan, the Black Country, Wales, all coming into Whitchurch, probably to stay over, and boost the town’s economy.

"But it’s not sustainable if the town the event is in doesn’t get behind it.

"People keep telling us there is nothing to do in Whitchurch.

"There is something to do at the end of June, an amazing weekend where people can come along and forget about the difficulties of the past couple of years, to come together and have a laugh.

"We’ve loved putting gigs on here and we are so grateful to a number of people who have backed us to the hilt and come to show after show.

"Sadly at the moment it’s nowhere near enough and if we have to pull this festival, we won’t be back."

Beese said if the difficult decision was taken to cancel the festival, all ticket holders would receive a full refund.

Tickets are available at www.funnybeeseness.co.uk/whitchurchcomedyfestival2022