Time Out magazine has “named and shamed” West End discount ticket booths around Leicester Square that incorrectly claim to be London’s official ticket booth. The article (Time Out, August 29), entitled Named And Shamed: You Know Who You Are…, includes the misleading ticket agencies in its survey of services in the capital that give London a bad name.
The article points out that the only official half-price ticket booth is tkts, run by the Society of London Theatre, located in the centre of Leicester Square. Time Out writes: “The proper ticket booth… brilliantly sells cut-price tickets on the day. But in order to reach the booth, you have to pass by a number of commercial agencies eager to persuade visitors they’ve already reached their destination. Potential theatregoers are presented with a barrage of posters and signs, one of them even boasting ‘Official Half Price and Discount Booth’. Few tickets are actually on sale for half price; some cost more than face value.”
The magazine adds: “Most of these agencies are carrying out their business legitimately, but the word ‘official’ has clearly been stretched to breaking point.” An accompanying photograph in the magazine shows one of the many offending outlets on Cranbourne Street, a main route to Leicester Square.
tkts (pictured above right) is the only official ticket booth selling half-price tickets to West End shows on the day, with profits made going towards support for the industry and the encouragement of theatregoing.