TICKETS for comedian Alan Carr’s gig at Selby Town Hall sold out in only 20 minutes after fans queued in the rain for hours.

The announcement that television’s Chatty Man would be performing a gig at the 150-seat venue on February 14 to try out his new material for an upcoming national tour was reported in The Press yesterday, and marked another high profile name for the arts centre.

Despite cold and wet weather, some fans claimed to have queued from midnight on Wednesday to be first in line for tickets when they went on sale at 10am. All tickets were sold after 20 minutes.

Chris Jones, arts officer for Selby Town Council, said it seemed like for every ticket sold, the venue could have sold 100 more.

He said: “We knew that Alan would be a big draw, but I had never anticipated demand would be quite as extraordinary as it was.

“The response this morning has been absolutely phenomenal. This morning we were fielding a call every five seconds or so from 8am. There were people queuing outside the town hall from midnight.”