Update 15/6 – Following the announcement below yesterday it soon became clear how unhappy the people involved from the comedy world were. I received a further email from the organisers and Alan Davies, one of the big stars due to appear along with Al Murray and Ed Byrne, tweeted me that "the local residents objected. Nimbys. They could have left it to see how it went. It may have gone back to Greenwich next year." 

The funny thing is Alan Davies has good reason to be grumpy. This time last year he was one of the big names booked to appear at the Scipmylo Festival, also in East London. That Festival was also cancelled.

Organiser Cass Briggs later emailed me to add this: "We're currently in talks with Greenwich Council with the hope of running a series of events to continue the good name Greenwich Comedy Festival later this year but nothing concrete as yet."

This press releasea arrived on Friday evening from the organisers of the first Brick Lane Comedy Festival, which was to have featured Al Murray, Alan Davies, Isy Suttie, Milton Jones, Doc Brown, Rich Hall and much more. A huge shame for all concerned and for East London...

"It's with an extremely heavy heart that we announce the cancellation of Brick Lane Comedy Festival.

As you may know we were forced to leave our previous home in Greenwich with little time to find a new location. We embarked on a borough then city wide search to find a new home, and we found it in Allen Gardens, Brick Lane….

Due to this last minute relocation we had no choice but to go on sale while the license application was taking place. Despite the event having the full support of the borough we ran into heavy opposition from local community groups and residents that have proved impossible to overcome in the limited time before the festival starts.

We are incredibly sorry for any disappointment or inconvenience caused and we hope that ticket holders will appreciate the situation. We were hugely looking forward to what was set to be an amazing five nights of comedy. We have not taken this decision lightly and after exhausting every possible alternative we've agreed that a cancellation is the only option.

This year's line up was one of our finest to date which makes this decision all the more heartbreaking. We have worked incredibly hard and tirelessly for the last five years establishing our festival's as some of the finest comedy events around and we are very proud of what we've achieved. Sadly this year has been burdened by problems totally outside of our control which has led to this unfortunate result.

We'd like to thank all of the acts and agents and our partners and suppliers who've been extremely supportive, and apologise to all the comedy fans who were looking forward to the festival. We are already working on plans for an event in the borough next year as well as the return of Greenwich Comedy Festival.

All ticket holders will receive a full refund."