COMEDIAN Ed Byrne has revealed he excluded Oxford from his UK tour after accusing the New Theatre of “ludicrous” ticket prices.

During a radio interview with Graham Norton on Saturday, Mr Byrne was asked in which city he most dreaded performing.

After declaring Glasgow his favourite venue, the Irishman said it was the ticket prices at the New Theatre in George Street that made Oxford his least favourite.

He said: “The last few times I have been touring I have been keeping a diary and I say I’m not going back there, I’m not going back there, I’m not going back there.

“I won’t be going back to Oxford on this tour.

“Every time I have done Oxford on tour previously, it just has not sold and the one decent size theatre in town is one that has these ludicrous ticket prices.

“I think it is called the New Theatre.

“I would be charging £20 per ticket and they would be charging a ludicrous amount of money.

“That annoys me and every time the audience is small because people do not want to get ripped off. So I have just not been going back to places I don’t want to go back to.”

Author and Oxford resident Cherry Mosteshar, an avid theatre fan for 30 years, said: “It makes it really difficult to go to the theatre and take a chance on anything other than something with really well-known people.

“I think they are charging far too much and you look at things and ask yourself, ‘Am I really going to pay that much?’.”

“It is interesting to hear about ticket prices because there are fewer big names coming to Oxford. You have to dig out a fortune to go to the New Theatre. The prices have stopped me from seeing shows before.”

Mr Byrne’s comments follow an Oxford Mail report in 2013 in which comedian Jason Manford branded Oxford New Theatre as “parasites” for their charging policy.

The New Theatre refused to comment.