Best/Worst Theatres - By Guest Facilities

Salford Lowry and Brum Hippodrome I think are my favourites. Both lovely buildings and very customer friendly.

Best box office recently experienced was Playhouse in Liverpool. What a friendly box office staff!

I've loved Bristol Old Vic's "guest experience" in the last 19 months during the front of house redevelopment. The Backstage Bar has a lovely rough feel. The new improved foyers will open in the autumn!

My favourites are the Royal Opera House (with its Floral Hall), the Almeida and the Royal Court because they all have a thrilling ambience with great bar and light catering provision and buzzing staff, and the generally buzzing audiences are forced in each case to share a space which is too small for privacy and which forces people to interact with strangers,

As much as it pains me to say so (having worked for them) I have to admit their facilities are excellent. Lots of loos (public ones on the ground floor as well) LOADS of foyer space, places to buy refreshments that aren't bars.  And super easy for transport and parking. Can't fault it. 

Actually I can, 10 years in some of their seats are arse-numbing and need a bit of stuffing. 

I agree in general [EDIT: with emicardiff on WMC] but I've had more adverse incidents at WMC than everywhere else put together.

I've been detained by police and prevented from attending a performance on potential security grounds.

I've sat with half the audience and the ushers waiting for 45 minutes for a post-show discussion which was actually occurring, in error, on a lower level because the creatives had got lost in the building.

I've attended a play with a depleted audience because the tickets stated an incorrect start time 30 minutes later than the actual publicised start time, which I'd pointed out to the box office several weeks previously.

I've witnessed disabled people turning up at the printed level to face loads of steps tp their seat and told by a stony-faced unempathetic usher to go to a lower level where they'll have step-free access to their seats.

Most of the issues I've encountered arise from the size of the place and the number and range of different public activities going on, which the front of house sometimes struggles to cope with.

Dire ones in the West End: Ambassadors (no room FOH and tiny loos) and Phoenix (big queues for loos for both women and men).

Outside London I have a positive vote for the New Victoria in Woking. On each level FOH (if I remember correctly) is a bar, loads of space, seating and loos. Also, I don't understand why the Churchill Theatre in Bromley has a negative comment. It has loads of space (particularly downstairs), drinks available on several levels and quite a few loos (if you know where to look).

Theatres that do quite well (facilities and ambience) are those that have a new extension to an old auditorium. The Opera House in Belfast is an example - nice old auditorium, but to the side is a nice modern area with good loos, bar, seats, etc. and sufficient space for the audience before house opens.

I'd agree that FOH management/service can be appalling. As you say- too large a building with not enough clue as to what's going on. Also the manner in which they treat their FOH staff (In my opinion/experience) doesn't help that factor. 

Still in the scheme of Cardiff theatres it beats being jammed against a wall in the tiny New Theatre foyer. 

Believe it or not, the New Theatre is now a vast improvement on their pre-1987 foyers and bars which were in tiny rooms with everyone clambering over each other and crushing through the doors.

I've always found the Adelphi to be great. One of the only theatres in London where I've not had to queue for what feels like forever for the women's toilets at the interval, lots of toilets on all levels makes it a winner for me. Equally collecting tickets is a breeze, queue always moves fast and you're never waiting for long.
Love that Bristol Hippodrome have the box office next door to the theatre, always easy to collect/buy tickets without getting caught in the crowd as the foyer/general waiting space is tiny considering the size of the auditorium.
Theatre Royal, Plymouth has a great foyer/cafe space, loads of places to sit or stand and wait for the auditorium to open.

Almeida not too bad for gals now. In the old days, it was queuing in the rain!
But let us please call out THE OLD VIC. Still despite adding a few cubicles, a massive queue and squashed next to the men who swan in and out, albeit sheepishly. If ever there were a case for uniloos, this is it. Take down the wall between the two facilities and remove the urinals. Then possible to widen the corridor to allow for disabled and a more pleasant entrance. Simples.

In summary: the refurbishment is p*ss poor.