A booking fee is an additional charge incorporated in your ticket price which covers a range of costs associated with processing your booking and issuing your tickets, whether you book by cash or by card, in person, over the phone, or online.

When you buy a ticket, it may appear to be a simple journey from clicking ‘Pay Now’ or handing over your cash to receiving your tickets. In reality, there are a host of things from software and equipment to services and support that make that possible.

For example:

• If you’ve booked online, you’ll have booked via The Coro website, which has to be maintained securely and updated regularly to enable you to browse and buy online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Whether you pay by card or by cash, there is a commission due to the box office software provider that securely stores your booking information and issues your tickets.
• Whether you pay by card online, over the phone, or in person, there is a commission due to the payment processor that securely processes your payment.
• When booking in person or over the phone, or contacting The Coro via email, social media, phone or in person for help with queries related to your booking, you’ll have been supported by a paid member of our box office team.

These are just a few examples – and all of them cost money.

We know a night out at the theatre isn’t cheap. But you probably don’t know that for every £10 you spent on a ticket last year, on average The Coro would retain less than £1.60 of that once artists, tax, royalties, PRS and various other charges were all paid – often it was under £1, and that’s before any of the costs mentioned above are factored in.

For a long time we’ve been in the small minority of venues that have resisted implementing any additional charges. But as costs have shot up and our resources have become ever more thinly stretched, we’ve had to begin passing some of these costs onto the customer.

The good news is our booking fee – at just £1 per ticket – is very modest. You don’t have to look hard to find venues and third-party ticketing platforms charging double-digit fees, sometimes that even exceed the cost of the ticket itself.

We know change is hard, particularly when it hits you in the pocket, but we hope this helps provide some insight into why it is necessary. Thank you for taking the time to read and inform yourself.