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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Robert Dalling

John Bishop stuns people in Swansea by turning up all over the place

Comedian John Bishop has been making himself at home on the Welsh coast. People in Swansea have snapped the scouse comic all over the city, including in a local gym.

Bishop became the first official act to perform at Swansea's brand new 3,500 capacity arena on Tuesday. But it wasn't just the venue the stand-up saw, as he made the most of what the city had to offer, packing in a full day or activities and sightseeing ahead of his sell-out performance.

The Liverpudlian funnyman was spotted in various different parts of Swansea throughout the day, to the delight of fans who made the most of the opportunity to have a quick conversation with the star and take a selfie.

REVIEW: John Bishop opens Swansea Arena with hilarious nod to lockdown life, middle age and the city's new venue

John Bishop pictured with an aqua aerobics class at The LC (Daniel Spink)

Selcuk Meseci was delighted to welcome the comedian into his restaurant The Anchor at Swansea Marina, where he served him up a lunchtime pizza.

He said: "What a cracking guy he is. He is such a gentleman and so friendly as well. He was actually talking to people and saying, 'Hello, how are you? Are you alright?'. He was so friendly and so relaxed, and was enjoying his day walking around here.

"He came over here yesterday morning, and I didn't recognise him at first because he had normal clothes on. I recognised him but I wasn't sure who it was. We had a laugh because I'm a very chatty person, and I heard his accent and I said, 'You're from Liverpool, my wife is from Liverpool as well'. I told him about a restaurant in Liverpool I used to work at and he knew it as well.

"I told him I recognise him from somewhere and I wasn't sure, and he told me that he recognised me as well. I told him, I'm famous in Swansea so everybody knows me, and we had a bit of banter between us. But then I thought to myself, today is John Bishop's show, and this guy is from Liverpool, and I said 'Oh my God, that's you!' And he said 'Yeah that's me' and started laughing.

"We had a cracking morning, and we had some customers there and they were laughing as well. He was happy to have a photo and he did a little video for me as well. He said to me, what a great job you've got, you come in in the morning and sit down here and have that view of the Marina. He was absolutely very impressed with Swansea and the Swansea people, he was saying how they were such lovely people around here. He told me he hoped to come back here again."

The comedian also popped into the LC in Swansea in the daytime hoping to have a swim in the Waterpark, but the timing wasn't quite right - so he returned in the evening for a 6.30pm spin class instead.

The comedian with LC duty manager Daniel Spink (Daniel Spink)

Duty manager at the LC, Daniel Spink said: "He came in and he wanted to use our waterpark, but it was at the time that our aqua aerobics class was on. They were chatting to him and joking, asking whether he can come and take the class instead of me! We were having a bit of banter back and forth and he was being himself.

"He is a very quirky, chatty guy. He is much taller than you think. He went away and came back and enjoyed our spin class at 6.30pm.

"He was very approachable and down to earth. What you see on TV is what you get with him. He was asking how we were more than we were asking him. Just a normal character.

"People in the gym at the time were pretty star struck saying things like 'Is it him? Is it him?' and 'Can you come next week?' He did leave a big impression with us."

Ian Golden and his wife Sian Golden travelled from their home in Caerphilly to watch the show at the arena last night, and decided to go to have a meal at the Grape and Olive beforehand.

And they were surprised to discover the man they travelled to see was one of their fellow diners. Mr Golden, who is a big fan of Dr Who, of which the comedian was part of series 13, said: "We definitely didn't expect to see him. You don't - you think he'd be eating privately or something like that.

"I think he was just going, so would have just finished his meal, having an early dinner before preparing for the show. We were just arriving for ours at about 5pm.

"We approached him for a photo as did about two or three others. The restaurant was fairly empty at the time. Half an hour later he would have been swamped a bit more. It was only about two or three tables full at the time. We all went up and had a chat with him.

"He seemed really nice, and showed us a photo that he had taken of a Dr Who fan with a Weeping Angels tattoo. I have met loads of the cast of Dr Who so for me, I just met another Dr Who companion. For me it was great to meet another Dr Who actor and wish him luck for the performance."

John Bishop posted a short video on Instagram of himself outside Swansea Arena ahead of his performance (John Bishop)

The interaction the couple had must have been memorable for John, as they were surprised to see that their chance meeting got worked into his material on the night.

Mr Golden said: "He said to us there isn't any Dr Who material in there, but there was at the start. I have a feeling that he kind of referenced meeting us by saying he met Dr Who fans before the show.

"He was very down to earth and friendly. He didn't have to take a photo with us but he did, he was very approachable. We didn't want to take up too much of his time because we knew he had other places to be."

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