Lloyd Webber – 'Many of London's theatres are no longer fit for purpose'

Composer and theatre owner Andrew Lloyd Webber has labelled many of London's theatre "fossilised" and called for major modernisation to allow them to move with the times.

Speaking as he picked up a special award at the London Press Club Awards last week, Lloyd Webber has claimed that many of London's theatres "may no longer really be exactly what we want in the 21st century. There are theatres from which frankly you can't see and that aren't fit for today's purpose".

Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group runs six West End theatres; The Adelphi, The Cambridge, The Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Her Majesty's Theatre, The London Palladium and the New London Theatre, and according to the company's website, recent refurbishment includes the creation of 48 additional ladies toilets across four of the six theatres.

The impressario, whose hits include Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita received the Londoner of the year award for his 'outstanding contribution to the success story of the West End Theatre'.

Collecting the award at the event held at Stationers' Hall near St Paul's, Lloyd Webber said: "We can't think of our theatre stock as just as fossilised buildings because they've been built that way all this time. The theatre is a living, breathing space."

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