Audience boom for London theatres

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Theatres across London bucked the trend of economic gloom as a record number of people attended shows in 2008, the Society of London Theatre has said.

The society which represents 52 venues said viewers reached 13,807,286 and theatres earned £480m in ticket sales.

The audience figure rose by 1% compared with 2007, and box office collections increased by 3%.

Fewer people attended shows in the second half of the year but Christmas time saw a rise in audience numbers.

Nica Burns, president of the Society of London Theatre, said: "Behind these figures are many very talented hard-working people putting on and selling world-class shows that people actually want to see.

"There's a lot of economic doom and gloom out there, but it would seem people still want to be entertained and stimulated in numbers."