Theatre News

SOLT offers £10 theatre tickets to commuters during Olympics

The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) will offer discounted theatre tickets to Londoners during the Olympics in a bid to encourage travel during off-peak hours. The tickets will be just one of a number of incentives offered to workers in ‘hot spot’ areas to use after office hours during the Games.

The tickets, which start at £10 to shows including The Phantom of the Opera and Mamma Mia!, will be distributed as part of a wider Transport for London (TFL) initiative.

The news comes shortly after a Whatsonstage.com survey revealed that 65% of theatregoers said they would consider attending theatre more during the Olympics if cheaper tickets were offered.

Ben Plowden, director of surface planning at TFL, said: “London will be a hugely exciting place to be this summer with a fantastic spectacle of sporting and cultural events. We know that at certain times and in certain locations the public transport network will be much busier than usual. That’s why we are teaming up with a range of London’s top attractions to ensure that people able to travel home outside peak hours on the busiest days are spoilt for choice when deciding how to spend their evening.”

SOLT chief executive Julian Bird added: “We will be providing … reduced priced tickets to some
of the best theatre shows around through our new spring promotion and at
tkts in Leicester Square, London. I’d urge other businesses to follow our lead and give commuters a range of options to enjoy their summer evenings in the city.”

The tickets will also help ease fears over the impact of the Games on West End audiences. Encouragingly, our Whatsonstage.com survey also showed that
nearly 70% of theatregoers expect to be attending the theatre just as
much, or more often, than they
usually do during the Olympics.

Other ‘after work’ offers from TFL include spa packages for The Sanctuary, VIP tours at Madame Tussauds and discounted cinema tickets at Apollo Cinemas in Piccadilly.

– McKenzie Kramer 

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