West End ticket prices

As part of my current dejunking I found the scrapbook of my 1978 school trip to London - including the ticket for my first ever West End show, Oliver! at the Albery (now the Noel Coward)





Judging by the stamp on the ticket stub we paid £1.20 for Row N of the stalls - same seats are now £135 for All About Eve!

Looking at measuringworth.com, "In 2017, the relative value of £1.20 from 1978 ranges from £5.67 to £13.15."

To be fair our tickets were presumably a group booking. And this was the 1977 revival of Oliver! which would have been running for about a year by that point. But still, that's about 11000% inflation.

In 1978 there were only 3 TV channels - none dedicated to showing films only - and although video recorders did exist they were the preserve of the very, very rich. (some films appeared on television once a decade if you were lucky with films like Vertigo - now widely accepted as the best film ever - not on our screens for over 20 years for example)

People therefore went out to the theatre or cinema in far greater numbers than they do now or ever will do again and, as a consequence, tickets could be cheap.

However, for all the talk of theatre being expensive or elitist if you are flexible with what you want to see or your dates you should be able to avoid paying more than £15-20 for a ticket which in 2019 is great value for money. If you're not flexible you will possibly pay more but theatres have to stay financially viable and we can't expect them to pander to the nostalgia of era which does not and will never again exist.

True, but those £15-20 tickets are getting increasingly few and far between. Even dayseats and lotteries are rarely under £25 now.

The price hike is down to the spread of premium pricing. The premium seat allocation used to be just the centre front stalls and front dress circle - perhaps 100 seats a performance. Now premium seating takes huge swathes of the stalls and circle. There can also be "bands" of premium prices not just one! Top price tickets only buys you side and rear stalls and back of the circle.

Yes, of course there are cheaper seats and deals - but as I have said before, to the casual theatre goer who just looks online at the theatre websites the prices are horrific. Waitress for example - an unknown show over here with no star casting is asking £99.50 £115 and £135 for premium seats. £70/80 buys you very front stalls and sides. HUGE availability- it will have to discount - but perhaps discounting is a part of the business model?

Will theatre tickets become the new DFS sofa sale where no-one buys one unless it's "Half Price - sale must end Monday!"

I never understand how this logic is meant to work. A show that needs to be discounting 50% (or more) vibes that it's not doing well and this in turn vibes that it's not popular/not very good. A show that's selling out/has low availability for weeks to come vibes that there's a huge demand and thus "must be good". 

American shows seem to cleverly capitalize on this by keeping booking periods short - even Hamilton, by all counts a success, only just extended booking for one month - June. Book of Mormon has been doing the same. 

Dynamic pricing is far more subtle, but I also wonder how many people are scared off by checking new shows, see the initially very high prices, decide against booking and never check back. I think it would make far more sense to start low and only hike prices when there's a big demand. Also gives new shows a chance to get the punters in and then help to spread word of mouth. 

Supermarkets aren't a great comparison though, a lot of their discounted products are loss leaders, stuff they're willing to lose money on because it will help lure people in who will also buy other things so the retailer ultimately does end up in profit. Theatres only *really* sell tickets (programmes, refreshments, and merch are accessories rather than the primary reason for some customers' visits), you can't loss lead those in the same way because even a whole bottle of interval wine won't make up for a ticket purposefully sold at a loss.

Does anyone fear that they (if things carry on as they are) will simply be priced out of West End theatre for good?

(especially people who do not live and/or work in greater London and don't have the flexibilty necessary to get cheap day tickets)

Absolutely. 
Not just in terms of ticket prices (I can't book in advance because of prices, so generally have to rely on chancing it on the day) but with travel from the North and potentially accommodation, the total cost is quickly becoming prohibitively expensive.
Like many, I get 4 weeks notice of shifts from work by which point both train and theatre tickets have escalated as the 'book early' period is well out the window, else its a case of having to book holidays/time off.

I'm already priced out unless I can get deals or decide to just go with cheap seats but I dislike the latter as I simply end up not enjoying the show as much if I can't actually see performers faces properly. The amount of theatre I see has dropped year on year as prices have increased and sadly I can't see that changing.

Yes. There are several new musicals recently opened that a few years ago I would have probably bought a cheap ticket for & given them a go to see if I liked them. Now I doubt I'll be seeing them as if I'm paying that much money it's got to be for something I really want to see. If I'm paying £60+ for a ticket then I'd rather spend it at the Royal Opera House than in the West End. I'm already trying to save on travel costs by walking from Kings Cross/Liverpool Street into the West End whenever I can so I can pay for a return ticket plus 1 lot of tube fare rather than buying a Travelcard like I used to.


I feel the same & being pretty short-sighted doesn't help. It's simply not worth sitting up in the balcony of a large theatre when I can't see any of the acting.