A CONTROVERSIAL comedian has hit out after claiming he was told by the council he would not be booked to perform in Barrow.

Roy 'Chubby' Brown and his team were 'baffled and confused' after claiming they were told there were 'no plans' to book him to perform at The Forum.

A council spokesman did not specify when asked if the comedian had been informed he would not be booked, saying it would make a decision once a new bookings policy based on its 'set of values' was in place.

The comedian last visited the town last year with previous performances proving controversial.

In 2019 former Barrow MP John Woodcock, now Lord Walney, urged The Forum to consider cancelling his shows after being contacted by a disabled constituent who was ‘mercilessly pilloried’ by the entertainer when he visited Barrow in 2016.

Now a post on the stand-up comic's Facebook page hit out at the council after receiving 'hundreds' of enquires about when he will next visit Barrow.

It said: "We have been informed by the head of visitor economy and culture thriving communities event programming for the Forum Theatre in Barrow, (and I quote) that there are no plans at this time to include Chubby Brown in the theatre's events programme …. even though he hasn’t performed there for a while now and I have explained we are getting hundreds of enquiries as to when Roy will be performing at the Forum again from his Barrow fans as always sells out.

"I'm again totally confused and baffled by the reply.

"The above is the only explanation I have received so sorry not got anymore info, only the head of visitor economy or possibly venues hierarchy can give you that information, don’t think it takes a lot of working out though in my opinion, same old same old, if memory serves me right I feel a certain sense of deja vu here?"

The post said there was 'huge demand' from people in Barrow to see the comedian, with it hoped the council would 'see sense'.

A Westmorland and Furness Council spokesman said: “As a new council we have adopted a new set of values for our organisation to inform how we work, including at venues we operate.

“In light of these values we are developing a new bookings policy to help us decide the type of acts that we book at our venues, such as the Forum, in the future.

"Once the policy has been agreed we will apply it to all future and any outstanding booking enquiries.”