The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) has announced that West End box office receipts exceeded £500m for the third year in a row with 2011 ticket sales bringing in greater revenue despite a slight fall in audience numbers. Attendances dropped 1.73% on 2010 to 13,915,185 visits - perhaps due to several big venues being shut whilst major productions such as Shrek the Musical, Ghost the Musical and The Wizard of Oz were installed (146 dark theatre weeks in 2011 compared with 85 in 2010). Sales rose to £528,275,874, which was a 3.1% increase on 2010 and earned over £88m in VAT for the Treasury.

Plays Enjoy a Spectacular Year

A Warm Welcome to Visitors in 2012

Speaking about the results, Mark Rubinstein, the president of SOLT, said: “We are extremely proud that our theatres have yet again gone on to achieve another record-breaking year of sales, with many shows announcing record-breaking runs of their own. Despite the prevailing rigours of the economic climate, theatregoers have acted with their feet and wallets and shown just how much they value a trip to one of our world-class shows. We can confirm buoyant box office advances for 2012, a year in which we look forward to welcoming millions more national and international visitors through our theatre doors.”