Co-author Dan Rebellato, said: "The number of shows has definitely gone down, but attendances are up in 2023 compared to 2019, there's a lot of new work but most of it is new musicals." He added that the big decline was in new plays opening, with the report showing that there were 30% fewer plays opening in 2023 compared to 2019.
It seems that San Francisco City Hall's solution to our post-COVID economic doldrums is to just add alcohol to everything. From boozy night markets and entertainment zones to to-go cocktails and lots of new liquor licenses, we seem to have a pretty one-dimensional strategy to get people out to venues and events. And that's to make it easier for people to buy alcohol there.
All English regions and the three devolved nations have seen manufacturing output rise back above 2019 levels for the first time. The South West was the strongest performing region with output more than a quarter (27%) above 2019 levels, driven by a surge in spending in the aerospace and defence sectors.
In a world where we are still facing the financial challenges coming out of Covid, high inflation and static public funding, balancing community use with ticketed events is crucial.