Ticketing

Theatregoers were evacuated from a matinee performance of The Lion King in London’s West End on Sunday after a bomb threat.

The area around the Lyceum Theatre on Wellington Street was taped off as police searched the building. 

In a statement on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said confirmed nothing was found. “Staff have returned and the incident has been stood down,” the spokesperson said.

The police have released no further details about the incident, which occurred at around 4pm. A spokesperson told The Independent that the force doesn’t discuss bomb hoaxes.

Crowds of evacuated theatregoers and passersby waited outside the theatre as the search took place.

“The Lyceum Theatre got evacuated mid-performance yesterday but we managed to meet the Lion King cast in full costume,” one audience member tweeted.

The theatre has yet to release a statement but on Monday another Twitter user who had been evacuated asked the venue, the official Lion King account and Ticket Master whether theatregoers would be refunded or allowed to rebook.

Ticket Master’s customer service account responded to the query asking him to check his direct messages. The company has made no official statement about whether or not audience members should expect to be refunded for their tickets.

Other theatregoers contacted the Ambassador Theatre Group on Twitter to request information about whether or not tickets would be refunded, but did not receive a public response.

Increases in the cost of theatre and live music performances have contributed to record inflation rates for recreation and culture, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.

Data published today by the ONS shows the UK's inflation rate stayed at 8.7% in May - the same rate as in April - and down from a peak of 11.1% last year.

The ONS said that while falling prices for motor fuel was one of a number of areas that contributed to downward pressure on inflation, this was counteracted by increases in others.

It cited rising prices for recreational and cultural goods and services as being among the "largest upward contributors".

The annual inflation rate for this category in the year up to May 2023 was 6.8%, up from 6.4% in April.  

It represents the highest level of inflation for recreational and cultural goods and services since the ONS began recording figures in their current format in January 2006. The last time it was higher was in August 1991 when annual price rises were recorded at 7.2%.

The ONS has attributed some of the rise to cultural services, where average charges for live music events and theatre admissions rose this year having fallen a year ago.

Nottingham Castle will reopen on 26 June, seven months on from its closure when the trust responsible for its operation entered liquidation.

When the castle reopened in 2021 after a £31m redevelopment project, a standard admission price of £13 was introduced, or £9.50 for children, leading to complaints and calls for ticket prices to be reviewed, according to local press at the time.

The heritage site will now adopt ‘pay once, visit all year’ ticketing arrangements when it reopens, with adults able to pay £12 for all year access, with children under 15 able to go free with a paying adult.

A family of five will now be able to buy an annual pass for £24, compared with £35.50 before the castle’s closure.

The new admission arrangements will include unlimited access to the grounds, Brewhouse Yard Cottages, Robin Hood Adventures and Rebellion Galleries and the castle museum, unlimited for a 12-month period.

Councillor Pavlos Kotsonis, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Planning at Nottingham City Council, said the the local authority hopes the announcement will come as welcome news.

“We have endeavoured to listen to what visitors didn’t like about the Trust’s admission arrangements, and I believe the simpler pricing and exceptional value we are announcing will help to encourage visitors, near and far, to come back again and again.”

A new website has been launched to take advanced bookings.

The UK government has published a response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recommendations on secondary ticketing, ruling out legislative changes for the time being. 

The CMA called for stronger laws to tackle illegal ticket reselling in August 2021, publishing a comprehensive report on the secondary market. 

The authority called for changes including a ban on platforms allowing resellers to sell more tickets than they are legally allowed to buy from the primary market, holding platforms accountable for incorrect information about tickets listed on their websites and a new licencing system for platforms that sell secondary tickets.

The UK government’s response, penned by MP Kevin Hollinrake, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State within the Department of Business and Trade, formally rejects the proposals.

“The government believes in the power of competitive markets to give consumers choice and flexibility,” Hollinrake’s response said. 

“This applies to both the primary and secondary markets in event tickets. Consumers should have the ability to sell on tickets they no longer want or able to use and therefore need a market for resale.”

The government response cited the “massive disruption” to the event industry caused by the Covid-19 pandemic as hindering a detailed assessment of the impact of current trading standards and CMA enforcement work.

It also stressed the responsibility of buyers to make careful decisions when purchasing tickets from the secondary market.

The response said that it is “too soon” to establish whether futher legislation focused on the secondary ticket market is “the only way forward”, concluding that “to propose further legislation in the sector at this stage is not yet appropriate or justified by the available evidence”.

It added that improvements to other aspects of consumer law, published in response to the 2021 consultation, would be the government’s priority in the immediate future, “rather than changes to the secondary ticketing regime specifically”.
 

Music ticket fraud increased by 529% last year, with the average victim losing £110.

The findings come from a study by Lloyds Bank, which also found scams targeting comedy and theatre tickets are on the rise, albeit by smaller amounts.

Scammers are targeting concerts and festivals where tickets are scarce or sold out more often, with scams involving fake websites, emails and social media posts increasingly prevalent.

Liz Ziegler, Fraud Prevention Direction at Lloyds, said audiences should always buy tickets from reputable platforms, and pay by debit or credit card to give the greatest level of protection.

“With demand to attend live events soaring as the warmer weather approaches, they will waste no time in targeting music fans as they rush to pick up tickets for the most popular gigs and festivals.”