West End ticket Prices

It's a vast oversimplification. Yes, there are theatres which are pushing up the prices for prime seats because they can and because the type of person who will pay £120 without thinking for a ticket is probably also willing to pay £150.

And they can always reduce tickets that don't sell.

But I'm fairly sure I'm paying less for tickets than I was before the pandemic. There are lot of good seats available than aren't at premium prices, there are offers, many shows have excellent rush availability and you don't even have to queue up at theatres for day seats. I will be interested to see what the summer brings and if international tourists start flocking back to the shows that are struggling (not even Hamilton sells out any more and, although they don't discount in the traditional way, dynamic pricing there can sometimes throw up some excellent deals).

I notice that for The Seagull there is a block of stalls seats at £230 each. I am always curious as to what the people who end up in those seats (because they are sure to be occupied) will actually have paid.

Ticket prices have definitely got more expensive. Which is risky as we have all just had two years of living without theatre so many are used to it not being in our lives.

It's very easy to say there are plenty of deals about, but that's only if you know where to look, are local, and can be flexible when you go. But most people outside London have to plan in advance. To be honest im.not even sure there are that many deals, im fairly flexible when i can go but most shows i look at dont seem to have deals.

Add in the cost of getting to London and you're talking the cost of a trip abroad, especially for families.

Even locally my local theatre now has many touring shows, especially the big musicals, at £75.

No I didn't. Don't put words in my mouth.

But from a business perspective, when your customers have had a long time without you, to come back more expensive is a risky move. Theatre hasnt really actively encouraged people back since the pandemic. And I don't think it's paying off, shows are struggling and the high cost of attending them is a part of the reason. People have coped without theatre for a good while, and now face the highest cost of living in decades. When money is tight you drop the luxuries.

Is it going to die out, obviously not. Is the potential market for shows going to shrink, more than likely.

Live performance is one thing that can beat on demand entertainment, Glastonbury is a sell out after three years away and shows like Prima Facie and Jerusalem have sold incredibly well. Theatre has survived wars, pandemics and cost of living crises for thousands of years, it will still be going strong for thousands of years more.

I’m looking for the same seats I would have bought pre pandemic and they are now much more expensive. And that is everywhere.

I’d have paid £100+ if they’d have brought Midler over as was reported years ago, but I’m not even fussed about seeing it with Staunton.

For me, part of the problem is not that the top prices are increasing but that the bottom prices are. There will always be people with higher disposable income that don’t scoff at paying £250 a ticket and in my book I was rarely choosing those seats at £150 so whether they’re £150 or £250+ I don’t care. And while there are always going to be three seats at the back behind a wall for £20 so that low prices can be quoted on advertising, there’s definitely a general trend for those middle of the road tickets that often make up the bulk of the upper circle and rear of the stalls to increase as well. It’s that which is the most problematic because (at least in my view) it does one of two things: prices a portion of people looking to spend around £50 a ticket out of going unless they want a bad view; and encourages people to spend more on higher priced seats lower down in the theatre. I’m definitely falling into the latter camp because if I’m paying £65/£75 for a front of upper circle seat I’m definitely more comfortable adding £20/£30 a ticket more for a much better view than I was when front of upper circle was more like £45/£50.

Another factor is that the number of seats at premium prices is increasing. When these tout-level tiers were first introduced, there were plenty of front central Stalls seats still available at reasonable rates. At Hello Dolly the minimum price is now £125 in the Stalls unless you take the back few rows or the extreme sides all with consequent restricted view.

Yes Prices certainly seem to have risen a lot lately.

There were tix available for the Dorian whatsername play and I would have liked to see it. But clicking on every date and performance the tix were too expensive. So I didn’t book. Sitting behind a screen which was a cheaper option isn’t my idea of going to the theatre. So yes the tix prices have affected my choices. I’m not looking at West End now when we used to go regularly.

There’s actually some fantastic seats mid stalls for Dorian Gray available for tomorrow’s matinee at £40. Considerably cheaper than other dates.

I’m the same and booking stuff quite late as got stung a few times last year with the train strikes.

I'm up in Edinburgh, and whilst the cost of getting to and from London isn't too bad, the cost of hotels has absolutely rocketed: pre-pandemic, you used to easily be able to get a Premier Inn room for c£45-60/night - now it's somewhere between £60 - £100, and you'll be lucky to pay less than an average of £75/night. And you no longer even get housekeeping at PIs, unless you ask specifically. An extra £30 per night for two - four nights is one less show - or two, depending on how well I can do on discounts.
This leaves me looking at the budget end of the IBIS offerings, where the rooms are very basic, and the towels in the bathrooms small and scratchy. And I won't do Travelodge after they over-booked the one I'd reserved for my brother's wedding, were rude on the phone to me about it, and completely ruined the whole weekend. Also they apparently believe it's 2006 with their 30 minutes of free wi-fi per day...
So that's just fewer visits to London, and a subscription to NT at Home to try to allow me to see some of the more popular stuff.