Famous TV comedians including Paul Sinha, Jo Caulfield and Chester funnyman Jeff Green performed at some of the city centre’s most iconic venues as part of a new comedy festival.

The event was launched by Chester’s Business Improvement District, CH1ChesterBID.

Crowds descended on the city centre for the first CH1 Chester Comedy Festival, featuring 11 stand-up shows with 26 comedians performing in 16 venues over eight days.

They included The Chase star Paul Sinha, who performed at the Chester Grosvenor, and Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You comedian Jo Caulfield, who appeared at the Macdonald New Blossoms Hotel.

Award-winning comedian Jeff Green – who was born in Chester and had a sell-out UK solo tour before moving to Australia in 2008 – returned home for the first time in 10 years to perform his critically acclaimed show 30 at Chester Town Hall.

Robin Ince, Glenn Wool, Tom Wrigglesworth, Archie Kelly, and Gary Delaney were just some of the other big name stand-up acts that appeared in-front of packed audiences in Chester.

CH1ChesterBID teamed up with the organisers of the Southport Comedy Festival to create the week-long celebration of comedy.

Carl Critchlow, BID manager at CH1ChesterBID, said: “We’ve had a great response to the first ever CH1 Chester Comedy Festival.

“Most of the shows were sell-outs with people coming from all over the region and the feedback about the comedians has been really positive.

“We created this festival to give people something new to enjoy and another reason to come and enjoy summer evenings in Chester city centre.”

In February this year, CH1ChesterBID supported Chester city centre in achieving Purple Flag status in recognition of Chester’s excellent evening offering.

Carl added: “We’re proud of the Purple Flag achievement and it’s important we build on it and continue to offer people a range of evening entertainment to choose from.

“The CH1 Chester Comedy Festival has been a big hit with local people as well as city visitors and we’re already looking forward to bringing the festival back again in 2019.”

For more information about the CH1 Chester Comedy Festival, visit www.ch1chestercomedyfestival.com