The Comedy Cafe, one of the oldest comedy clubs in London, is to close after 26 years.

In an interview with blogger John Fleming, the man behind the club Noel Faulkner explained that he was outbid on the lease so he would be shutting up shop in a month: "Yeah. They bid more than we did and we can’t meet those figures, because comedy is not doing that well, you know?”

Faulkner is looking for somewhere else but wants to stay in the area and over the last few years Shoreditch has become so fashionable rents have rocketed, making it a challenge to find somewhere suitable.

It may, or may not, be the absolute end of the Comedy Cafe brand though. Stay tuned. Faulkner knows the comedy industry inside out and is one of the most experienced promoters in London. In the 1990s he promoted a very young Daniel Kitson when he was starting as a stand-up and put him on at the Comedy Cafe and also at the Edinburgh Fringe in a show called The Monkey Touchers in a pop-up venue in the back of a van.

The news comes in the same week that it was revealed that the Caroline of Brunswick pub in Brighton, which has been a regular comedy venue for a number of years, is also under threat.

Read John Fleming's full story here.

Update here.