Best seats for West End shows in London top £200

West End ticket prices have broken the £200 barrier for the first time (If you fancy a decent seat that is)!!

Top price seats for The Book of Mormon, the Broadway import that has been running in the capital since 2013, have reached a record high of £202.25.

West End ticket prices have broken the £200 barrier for the first time
West End ticket prices have broken the £200 barrier for the first time

Whilst the most expensive West End ticket is £202.25, we’re pleased to reveal the cheap seats are getting (slightly) cheaper, phew!!

The high ticket price represents a 33 per cent increase on last year, when the most expensive ticket for the same musical was £152.25. In 2012, the costliest West End ticket was £97.50 for Billy Elliot.

The biggest year-on-year price hike belonged to The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time. Top price tickets increased by 47 per cent, from £85 last year to £125.

There has also been a 30 per cent increase in the most expensive ticket for a West End play, which this year was £149.50 for American Buffalo. Last year it was BringUp The Bodies, the adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s prize-winning book, at £115.

The number of shows offering “premium seating” at £100 or more have almost trebled, The Stage found.

However, the cheaper seats have become cheaper – an average of £20.13, down from £20.36 last year – and most theatregoers are buying tickets at the lower end of the spectrum. The average West End price paid last year was £42.

“We are proud in London theatre of having tickets at all performances at low prices.”

Alistair Smith, editor of The Stage, said West End tickets have always exchanged hands for large sums, but not by official means.

“People were paying these kind of rates, it’s just that it wasn’t reflected in the actual face value of the tickets. Instead, concierges and touts were providing preferred customers with these tickets at heavily inflated rates,” Smith said.

“Now, the theatres are pricing their best seats at a rate that better reflects demand, and the industry (rather than concierges and touts) is pocketing the difference.

“On the whole, this is a good thing – and one would hope for a trickle-down effect that benefits casts and creative, as well as producers and investors.”

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