The Stage

West End warned ticket levies alone won’t save theatres

Published Wednesday 9 January 2008 at 16:25 by Lalayn Baluch

West End ticket levies will not be enough to save the deteriorating state of London’s historic theatres, Society of London Theatre president Rosemary Squire has warned.

She has urged the industry to keep pressing for public investment to bring venues up to scratch.

Last year, it emerged that ticket surcharging to raise money for the restoration of the capital’s listed venues was the favoured option of the London Assembly team leading an investigation into the state of West End theatres. But Squire believes ticket levying is only a “self-help remedy”, and not the solution for raising the £250 million identified in the 2003 Act Now report, which SOLT and the Theatres Trust published to launch the regeneration of the capital’s oldest theatre buildings.

Squire, also executive director of the Ambassador Theatre Group - one of the UK and London’s major theatre operators which introduced £1 ticket surcharges at some of its venues in 2006 - told The Stage that if action is not taken, buildings will eventually reach the point when they are no longer sustainable.

“I think we absolutely must keep pressing for public money,” she said. “It needs to be a proper public-private partnership, which the industry, the theatre owner, and public funding sources all contribute to.

“These buildings are part of our heritage, and they are a huge part of the London economy in terms of jobs and revenues generated for all the satellite businesses such as restaurants and taxis. They are also a massive draw to London internationally - nowhere in the world has got the range and diversity and quality of theatre that we have got in London. It’s unique and we should be proud of that, and we need to address the specific needs of the industry, which aren’t affordable out of ordinary profit generated for theatre owners.”

Her comments follow an industry meeting held by the London Assembly, three weeks prior to the publishing of its report on West End venues. Attending were representatives from London’s leading theatre operators - excluding Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group - Arts Council England, Westminster City Council, Greater London Authority, the London Development Agency, Heritage Lottery Fund, the Theatres Trust, and SOLT, as well as Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington.

Money-generating proposals such as corporate sponsorship, fund-raising appeals, the possibility of transferring buildings to charitable trusts so that they could be eligible for public cash, and ticket levying were all under discussion.

Bob Blackman, deputy chair of the LA’s Economic Development, Culture Sport and Tourism Committee who is leading the investigation, revealed that the public bodies in attendance warned there was no additional money available to restore London’s theatres.

“One of the challenges I put to the theatre operators - and it is a repeated challenge from all the funders - is that they are commercial operations and are doing this in order to generate a profit,” he said. “Why should public or charitable money go into organisations that are making individuals or organisations a profit? That is a clear challenge they have got to appreciate and understand.”

He also said surcharging is a measure most theatre operators are on the brink of introducing and he would be recommending it be considered by theatre owners.

He conceded it is not a move favoured by all in the industry - including Billington who, Blackman said, compared the levies to a host of a dinner party demanding money to pay for a dishwasher.