Trafalgar Entertainment cements brand with new operations and ticketing arms

Trafalgar Entertainment has launched a new venue operations entity that brings together its existing theatres and those it acquired last year in its takeover of HQ Theatres.

The company, led by Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire, has also set up its own ticketing arm, Trafalgar Tickets, which it said would unify ticketing across its regional theatre portfolio and improve customer service.

It has made a series of appointments to its senior leadership team as part of the move.

Following its purchase of HQ in 2021, the HQ Theatres brand will be retired. All 12 venues will become part of the newly created Trafalgar Theatres operation, as will its West End venue the Trafalgar Theatre, the under-construction Olympia Theatre and Sydney’s Theatre Royal. This means all theatres operated by the company will be brought together under the same name.

Squire said the creation of Trafalgar Theatres marked the culmination of the HQ purchase completing and the integration process being “fully realised".

Chris McGuigan, formerly of HQ, has been appointed group commercial director for Trafalgar Theatres.

He said the company was emerging from the pandemic "on the front foot" and would continue to grow under the Trafalgar Theatres brand. 

"These things are never straightforward, but we are bouncing back rapidly. There are all sorts of challenges around but we are increasingly confident as the weeks go by of a return to normal and of a bright future for the sector," he told The Stage.   

McGuigan said the past two months had shown a "stabilisation" in the sector, and that sales at Trafalgar venues were "on track, even slightly ahead, of 2019".

The company has also launched an in-house ticketing arm for its regional venues, which it is hoped will streamline what was previously a more fragmented operation across all venues in the group. 

The wider Trafalgar Entertainment group also runs West End ticketing site London Theatre Direct.

Johan Oosterveld has been appointed chief executive of Trafalgar Tickets. He joined the group in January from the TodayTix Group, where he was senior vice president of global distribution partnerships.

Oosterveld will be tasked with building new structures, and improving technology and customer insight, as well as embedding ticketing into other areas of the business such as marketing.

While Trafalgar Ticketing will oversee all venues, sales and customer service staff will remain in each venue, The Stage understands.

Other new hires include Alvin Hargreaves, who will be group operations director at Trafalgar Theatres, and Peter Brayshaw, who has been named finance director of venues and education.

Brayshaw is currently chief financial officer and chief executive for youth drama provider Stagecoach, which Trafalgar acquired in 2018.

Trafalgar Entertainment chief operations officer Helen Enright and business affairs director Andrew Hill will both work closely within the venue operation and ticketing divisions, as well as across the wider group.

Squire added: "Chris, Alvin, Peter and Johan – alongside Helen and Andrew – have years of industry experience and expertise between them, and we congratulate them on their new roles as they begin this exciting chapter in the continued growth of Trafalgar Entertainment.”

Squire and Panter founded Trafalgar Entertainment in 2017 after departing Ambassador Theatre Group, which they also founded. Alongside Trafalgar’s venue and ticketing operations, the group’s divisions include a live-streaming arm, Trafalgar Releasing, Stagecoach and the Helen O’Grady Drama Academy, It also owns Jonathan Church Productions.