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West End Theatre Bookings founder Andrew Peterson has been an employer, mentor and friend to everybody who has passed through the company. Known throughout the West End for his ever-positive personality, and love of football and rock n’ roll music, he steps down as Managing Director in November after 23 years at the helm. Web Editor Ben Piper caught up with him over lunch in Guildford to find out how it all began.

Selling Show Tickets - Back to the Beginning

Thank you for the sandwich Andrew, my pen is poised and the tape machine is running. Going back to the beginning, when did your first discover a passion for selling show tickets?

I’d say it began in my teens. My boys’ school in Harrow joined with the local girls’ school to put on a show. My father was a member of the Harrow Light Opera and a very good singer. Unfortunately I didn’t inherit any of his musical ability. Although I was on stage at a young age, I was told that I had an ‘unusual voice’ and asked to mime. Not able to perform but wanting to be involved, a friend and I volunteered to sell tickets and run the box office. We didn’t get paid, but we were guaranteed entry to the after-show party, which of course all the girls were invited to!

So after this early success, did you have a career path mapped out?

Growing up my real love was football, and I actually ran the team at my rugby playing school. I really wanted to get into coaching and approached different professional clubs. Arsenal offered me a job in the general office, which is where I began in 1975. Besides preparing for matches, we also took care of selling the Club’s tickets.

Were you given any advice in those early days?

Soon after I started, the chap who employed me asked me if I liked to drink, which I didn’t understand could be an advantage in selling tickets. I quickly learnt that the socialising side of the business was very important, especially for building relationships with the different ticketing agencies around town!

You became Arsenal Box Office Manager at 18 and enjoyed your time at the Club. How did you branch into theatre tickets?

The late 1970s was a time when a lot of Scandinavians started coming over to watch English football. I saw an opportunity to work with tour operators to sell tickets to them. After I left Arsenal and set up my own sports ticketing agency, my first customers were the same Scandinavian fans who began asking about theatre tickets. I spent some time visiting agencies such as Keith Prowse, Leaders and Lacon & Ollier - learning how to run a ticketing business.  I also spent a lot of time walking around London and seeing different concierges through whom I could sell tickets.

So you built up a lot of London contacts and learnt how to run your own ticketing agency. Did the business grow quickly from there?

Unfortunately my sports ticketing agency partnership broke down, so I started out again. I took premises in Harrow and began to employ staff, many of whom are still with the company today. We sold tickets for rock and pop concerts as well as theatre. There was a point where we advertised in every single Yellow Pages in the country. This was in the days before the internet and it was very effective way of advertising widely. I got on well with the Manager at the Criterion Theatre. He was looking to increase security around the theatre foyer and we came to an agreement to set up our first London ticketing booth there. As the company grew, we stopped selling rock and pop tickets and started doing restaurant packages and booking hotels.

Box Office Changes and Favourite Show?

What would you say is the biggest change to the business since you started out?

I would say the acceptance of credit cards by the box offices. The Ambassadors Theatre and the Prince of Wales Theatre were the last two to hold out. Before they accepted cards you had to go down in person to buy a ticket and of course the box office only opened during office hours and closed at lunchtime, which really helped agencies like us. That would be the other big change - the box offices have got much better over the years!

I guess this is a question you get asked quite often, but do you have a favourite show?

I really like the Jersey Boys. It’s got excellent music and although there is some bad language it doesn’t spoil the show. I think Mamma Mia! is fantastic too. It’s such a feel-good story and the cast are always brilliant. The show I’ve seen most would be Grease. My wife and I first took our daughters when they were quite young. They wrote a letter to Sandy and got a lovely reply from the actress. One year I took them as a birthday treat, not realising the performance clashed with an England World Cup match. We had the theatre to ourselves and I was trying very hard not to think about the game. Of course the bar staff were glued to a TV and gave us the thumbs down as we left, so I found out the result before I got home to watch the highlights!

After more than 30 years selling tickets, what are your plans for the future?

Well, I’m going to be around as a consultant so you’ve not seen the last of me! I’ve been selling tickets since I was 16, I’ve never done anything else, so I’m really excited to see what challenges and projects come my way. I know a couple of people on the Olympic Committee and I think it would be great to be involved in some capacity! In terms of UKTickets, I think the big growth is still to come. We’ve done very well this year and there’s still a lot to happen with Superbreak, especially as they modernise their theatre ticketing processes.

(New UKTickets Managing Director Dan Pearce pictured with Andrew Peterson)

West End Stories - How Dirty Dancing Got Away!

I have one final question, and I realise this may fill the rest of my notebook and take us through to dinner, but do you have West End stories you’d like to share?

I’ve been fortunate to meet Andrew Lloyd Webber on a number of occasions. One year, at a party at his London home, I asked him if he thought the success of a production was down to the quality of the show or the quality of the marketing. It was around the time that Jesus Christ Superstar was playing at the Lyceum Theatre, and he surprised me by saying it was down to marketing. However, later at the same party I bumped into the Marketing Agent, Adam Kenwright and asked him the same question. He was adamant that a show’s success was down to its quality, so the opposite again of what I expected!

In my own experience, you just never know how a show will do. I’ve invested in a few productions myself, and of course there’s always one that got away. One Christmas I got a call from a good friend who’s a Producer. He couldn’t afford to pay his cast and needed a favour. The show was Dirty Dancing in Australia, and he said when the show comes to London I’ll give you a share if you’re interested. Well, when the show came over I really wasn’t sure about it. Saturday Night Fever had struggled and I thought Dirty Dancing might go the same way, so I ended up declining the offer and I’ve lived to regret it ever since!

When you do get a good show, you just want it to keep going. I think some productions close too soon, particularly when ticket sales are still going strong. Compared to selling sports tickets, where it’s a one-off event, I much prefer theatre. A big football match happens and then it’s gone. With a top theatre show, there will always be another performance and you can enjoy it over and over again!