There were surprises lurking in the report of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) which represents the producers, owners and managers of central London's theatres.
It confirmed the negative impact of the Olympics on sales which nevertheless reached £529,787,692, up a modest 0.27% and generating £88,297,949 for the Treasury in VAT receipts. Attendances were also up by 0.56% year-on-year.
President of the Society of London Theatre, Mark Rubinstein, commented,
“I am delighted that for the 9th year running we are able to report year-on-year growth in ticket income… Against the background of a tough economic climate, London theatre continues to buck the trend, offering dazzling, world-class entertainment, which has audiences from both home and abroad flocking to the West End to catch exciting new productions as well as much-loved, long-running favourites.”
Strong sales in the first half of the year and in the autumn explain the growth with plays doing especially well showing a 9% increase on 2011 in audience figures.