An award-winning comedy club will reopen in two months after completion of a £2.5 million redevelopment.

Mary Connolly, development director of Komedia in Gardner Street, Brighton, said the venue has been "completely remodelled" and will be unrecognisable once its four-storey extension is completed.

Gone are the days of queueing in the street to collect tickets from the cramped box office.

Instead, the audience will enter through a new entrance in Regent Street, part of the cultural Jubilee Quarter, to a public bar and performance space which will host regular free events.

Upstairs a false wall which has hidden building work from audiences will be pulled down to reveal an extension, making the space almost twice as big.

New offices have been created on a mezzanine level, a kitchen has been built on the ground floor and a cellar has been created.

Folk singer Cara Dillon will perform on September 20, when the venue reopens. An official launch party is planned for October 9.

The extension is the final phase of nine years' work which started when the building, then known as Jubilee Hall, was bought by Komedia.

Ms Connolly said: "The redevelopment was the reason we bought the building. It has always been the plan since 1997 but it has taken us a long time to get to a position where we can raise the money and do exactly what was needed.

"Once the development is complete you won't recognise any corner of Komedia. We have spent years rebuilding it, knocking it down and experimenting with it but we feel pretty pleased with the outcome.

"We think it's going to be an incredible building."

An Arts Council grant funded a £57,000 project to raise the roof in the upstairs theatre but the rest of the work has been financed by Komedia directors. Work to refurbish the lower bar was completed earlier this month and a new caf bar opened in May.

Ms Connolly said the new downstairs space could be used by bands which will be left without a home when the Hanbury Ballroom in St George's Road, Brighton, closes.

She said: "The Hanbury Ballroom is a beautiful building and it's a shame to see a lovely music venue stop because that's what makes Brighton thrive but I am quite interested by the idea of the club. The new performance space will be a valuable venue and should provide an opportunity for bands who want to get their work shown."