Comedy club crowd showered with maggots that fell from dead pigeon

Maggots from a dead pigeon fell from the ceiling of a club on to audience members during a comedy performance. The dead bird was in an air conditioning unit at Jongleurs Comedy Club at Oceana in Nottingham. Sean Denton, who felt maggots fall on his head and arm, said audience members were "disgusted" and many walked out.



The club's operators have apologised but said no one had complained on the night and most of the audience "enjoyed the evening". Mr Denton said he was sitting on the front row at the show on Friday when, during the first act, he felt something hit his arm and head. "I didn't think much of it - I thought it was water falling from the air conditioning," he said. "People were pointing at the floor and when I looked, there they were - small maggots wriggling.

"The couple to the side of us were disgusted. I'm not sure if they were eating or not but there were certainly people in there that were eating. I'm sure if any fell in their meal it would have put them off instantly." Maggots began to fall "in a constant stream" and some fell on the comedian too, who walked off stage, Mr Denton said. His party were moved to another table by staff and given a free bottle of wine, he said, but they left before the last act.



Jongleurs has an agreement with the operators of Oceana, The Luminar Group, to use the club for comedy nights, a spokeswoman said. A pigeon had got into the air conditioning unit and subsequently died, she explained. When Jongleurs staff turned it on, it "disturbed the body" and "a few maggots" fell out. The group has apologised and offered free tickets to audience members, she said. "We would like to stress that the vast majority of the audience enjoyed the evening and stayed for the duration of the show," she added.