Summary of SOLT Box Office Data Report 2007

This annual report, written by Richard Andrews for SOLT, analyses a wide range of box office data from West End venues in 2006. A full copy of the report can be purchased. To do so, please visit the publications page.

• The number of attendances to West End plays in 2007 was 13,636,540, the highest on record, topping 13 million for the first time. This was an increase of 10.4% from 2006 when there were 12,351,495 attendances.
• The discovery of the car bombs in the Haymarket on 29 June 2007 led to low theatre attendances for the following week, but had no long term effect.
• The only major competing world sporting or cultural event that might have affected British or international tourism in 2007 was the Rugby World Cup held in France in October, which didn’t appear to have any effect.
• Weather was not a significant factor in 2007, although during the third quarter, amid floods across Britain, the outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and avian bird flu, plus the Stock Market Crash, business was substantially up on the previous year.
• The opening of major musicals such as Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grease and Hairspray in Spring 2007 led to major surges in West End ticket sales. There were also several sellout plays including Equus, War Horse, the transfer of the Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Macbeth, and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions of King Lear and The Seagull.
• It is difficult to measure the impact of the Congestion Charge on West End audiences. The report suggests that the charge has a negative impact on sales, although not a major one.
• Numbers of tourists arriving to the UK rose by 1% in 2007 compared to 2006.
• Numbers of North American tourists fell by 6% in 2007 compared to 2006.
• The fourth Get Into London Theatre (GILT) campaign ran from 9 January – 17 March. By the end of the promotion 48,135 tickets had been sold, 698 fewer than in the previous year’s scheme.
• The tenth Kids Week in the West End promotion, which is designed to introduce young people to the theatregoing experience, resulted in 36,562 tickets being sold, 15,956 more than in the previous year’s scheme.

Summary of Attendance Chart 1986-2007

• The graph shows that the number of attendances to the West End has increased during this 22-year period.
• 1986 had the lowest number of attendances with 10,236,362.
• 2007 had the highest number of attendances with 13,636,540 (This figure is also the highest number of attendances ever recorded in the West End).
• 15 of the 22 years in the sample recorded a percentage increase on the preceding year.
• 2001 (the year of the 11 September attacks in New York) recorded a 1.6% increase in attendance compared to 2000. (2002, which may have also been expected to suffer after 9/11, also recorded a percentage increase of 2.8% on 2001.)
• 2005 (the year of the London bombings) recorded an increase of 2.4% on 2004.
• The year which saw the biggest percentage increase in attendances is 2007, which saw an increase of 10.4%.
• The year that saw the biggest percentage drop in attendances is 1996 when, after the surge of 1995, numbers fell by 6.4%.

Download the attendance graph (pdf format).

Key points from 1986-2007 Attendance tables

Number of theatres open:

• Since 1986, the average number of theatres open has increased to a high of 44 in 2005 and 2007.
• During the 22-year period, the average number of theatres open has vacillated between this high of 44 and a low of 39 recorded in 1997 and 1991.
• The average number of theatres open hasn’t fallen below 42 since 1998.

Number of performances:

• 2007 recorded 17,455 West End performances, the highest number in the sample period.
• 1991 recorded 15,508 West End performances, the lowest number in the sample period.

Number of new productions:

• 2006 recorded 268 new productions, the highest number in the sample period, 2007 fell to 243.
• 1996 recorded 186 new productions, the lowest number in the sample period.

Download the attendance chart (pdf format).