Edmondson's band come to Ade of fire-hit club with gig

The venue, which has been closed since the devastating Victoria Street fire in December 2008, is now set to reopen in June.

Bosses had hoped the doors would be opened earlier but work to replace the roof of the 19th century former church has suffered a series of delays.

Club owner John McWilliams said the club has a number of "big names" lined up for the reopening but insisted he could not reveal them just yet.

However, it is known that Edmondson, famous for his role in The Young Ones, will be one of the first on the new stage.

He will take his band, The Bad Shepherds – who were formed in 2008 after Edmondson "accidentally" bought himself a mandolin – to the venue on 5 June.

Mr McWilliams said he hoped the revamped nightspot would be open in time but admitted the band would be moved to another venue if work was not completed.

He has already had to cancel a gig by Marina and the Diamonds at the end of May because of delays.

Mr McWilliams said: "We've got provisional bookings in for June on the understanding that if we're not ready they can be moved elsewhere.

"We had to move Marina and the Diamonds at the end of May because we weren't ready.

"We have not got an opening date as yet but hopefully it will be either the beginning of June or mid-June.

"We've got a lot of good gigs coming in and will have a lot of big names for the opening night who are going to do us a courtesy by coming to play."

The club has been closed since the massive blaze which saw firefighters battle 20ft flames at the building – shared with Finnegan's Wake bar and Khushi's Indian restaurant – on 19 December, 2008.

Investigations revealed the fire had broken out in the kitchen of Khushi's, causing extensive damage to the premises and its neighbouring businesses.

Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water had to be pumped from the basement of the Liquid Room and, without a roof, the club was regularly flooded again.