Schools could be offered cut-price tickets for pantomime season at Leamington’s Royal Spa Centre

Schools could be offered cut-price tickets for pantomime season at Leamington’s Royal Spa Centre in a bid to build on a boom in box office sales.

It was one of the ideas mooted by Warwick District Council’s portfolio holder for arts and economy Councillor Ella Billiald (Green, Leamington Willes) this week after it was reported that the council-owned theatre and cinema was projected to be £134,000 ahead of budget this current financial year.

The council’s report put that down to “income generated at the box office”, adding: “It is expected that we will continue to see strong delivery over the Christmas period, when the pantomime, our largest event, takes place.”

The numbers proved a welcome addition to the council’s coffers with the overall finance report for the first three months of 2023-24 currently showing an anticipated overspend of £572,000 across the year.

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Alan Boad (Leamington Lillington) said it was important the council learned the lessons of the centre's peaks and troughs over the past decade if momentum is to be maintained.

“My concern with the Spa Centre is what strategies we have in place going forward to try to maintain that forward thrust,” he said.

“As we know, the Spa Centre does go through bad patches. It has now had a long haul out of it and that is a good place to be but what are we doing to make sure it stays there?”

Cllr Billiald replied: “David Guilding has done a superb job as arts manager and promotion has already begun and takes us through to the pantomime season, something that will have to continue.

“Marketing is key and I feel much more can be done to market certain areas within the Spa Centre, particularly the cinema.

“Maybe we could introduce more music events and slightly reduce the price of some ticketing to engage schools during pantomime season because I am aware that school engagement has fallen slightly because of the price of ticketing.”