Peter Kay is set to bring one of the biggest comedy tours in British history to an end in Blackpool, with two special performances at the Opera House on Saturday 21 November 2026. The matinee and evening shows form part of a final charity extension to his Better Late Than Never Tour, which began almost four years earlier and marked the comedian’s return to stand-up after a 12-year absence. All profits from the final run of performances in Cardiff, Hull, Brighton and Blackpool are being donated to The Lily Foundation, Maggie’s and The Be More Laura Foundation, supporting work connected with mitochondrial disease, cancer care and brain-cancer research.
Better Late Than Never began at Manchester’s AO Arena on 2 December 2022 and developed into an extraordinary four-year run of more than 200 arena performances. Among its achievements was a record-breaking residency at London’s O2, where Kay played 45 dates. The tour represented a long-awaited return for the Bolton-born comedian, whose previous major stand-up tour had taken place in 2010–11. A huge tour planned for 2018 and 2019 had been cancelled shortly after its announcement because of unforeseen family circumstances, making his eventual return to the stage in 2022 particularly significant.
The entrance to the Winter gardens with the Opera House doors just to the left.
It will not, however, be Kay’s first appearance at the Opera House during the closing months of the tour. On 27 September 2026, he returned to Blackpool for special performances supporting All In for Fin, an appeal established for 19-year-old Fin Cormack from Prenton on the Wirral. Fin was born with the rare congenital heart condition Ebstein’s anomaly and had undergone several major heart operations from infancy. After seeing the family’s story on ITV Granada Reports and learning of their attempt to fund specialist surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Kay contacted them and offered to stage a Blackpool performance to help. Demand was sufficient for an additional show to be added, turning the occasion into a significant fundraising event at the Opera House.
There is also a much earlier connection between Peter Kay, the Winter Gardens and one of the charities benefiting from the November performances. In April 2018, Kay organised special screenings of Peter Kay’s Car Share at the Winter Gardens in aid of The Lily Foundation, which supports people affected by mitochondrial disease and funds research into treatments. Initially one screening was planned, but demand resulted in three being held across 6 and 7 April 2018. Kay made a surprise appearance on stage during the weekend, one of his relatively few public appearances following the cancellation of his planned tour. The screenings eventually raised more than £34,000 for the charity.
Eight years later, The Lily Foundation will once again benefit from Peter Kay taking to the stage at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens. This time the occasion carries an additional significance. The 8pm performance at the Opera House on 21 November 2026 is scheduled to be the final show of the Better Late Than Never Tour, bringing the curtain down in Blackpool on a remarkable four-year chapter of British comedy and continuing Kay’s long association with charitable events in the resort.
It should not necessarily be regarded as Peter Kay’s final live performance, however. The announcement concerns the conclusion of the Better Late Than Never Tour, rather than a retirement from stand-up. For Blackpool, the significance lies in being chosen as the place where a tour which began in Manchester in December 2022, travelled across Britain and Ireland and broke records along the way is finally scheduled to come to an end.
