Looking back on 30 years of LondonTheatre.co.uk

As LondonTheatre.co.uk celebrates its 30th anniversary, we rewind time to the West End of 1995, and explore how things have changed.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of LondonTheatre.co.uk, the original online ticket agent — a pioneer in the digital theatre space, launched long before smartphones, social media, or even Google.

For nearly 250 years, London’s world-famous West End has thrived through a mix of box office sales and ticket agents who act on behalf of the theatres. Long before the internet, these agents formed a vital distribution network, selling tickets to tourists, out-of-town visitors, group bookers, and the travel trade. They would handwrite vouchers, with customers exchanging these for a ‘house ticket’ at the box office. Bookings were recorded on large cardboard performance plans, first in pencil, then carefully ‘inked in’.

Most tickets were still booked the old-fashioned way until LondonTheatre.co.uk launched. In 1995, it became the first website where theatregoers could purchase tickets for any West End show in one place. It also offered theatre news, reviews, and insider information — all in one destination. It was a quiet revolution, setting the stage for everything that followed.

That same year, Les Misérables marked its 10th anniversary with a spectacular Royal Albert Hall concert. Meanwhile, Oliver! was showcasing the talents of future theatrical titans Sam Mendes, Matthew Bourne, and Jonathan Pryce. Mendes himself directed a landmark Donmar revival of Company, starring Adrian Lester navigating the dilemma of marriage versus bachelorhood. Across the river, the National Theatre staged A Little Night Music with Judi Dench and Siân Phillips. At the Olivier Awards, She Loves Me and Once On This Island took home top honours.

As internet use grew in the early 2000s, online sales gained traction, eventually overtaking phone bookings. LondonTheatre.co.uk stayed ahead of the curve, helping to democratise theatre access and offering audiences choice, ease, and speed.

Thirty years on, LondonTheatre.co.uk gets 20 million visitors every year. As technology further streamlines the experience, LondonTheatre.co.uk keeps evolving — finding new ways to engage audiences and inspire them to enjoy even more of the extraordinary entertainment the West End has to offer.

In 2023, the site launched this very magazine — not a digital innovation, but a bold, analogue commitment to connecting with theatre lovers in every way possible. Nineteen issues later, our cover stars have included Sunset Boulevard’s Nicole Scherzinger, Olivier Award winner Layton Williams, the cast of The Lion King for the musical’s 25th anniversary, Frozen’s Samantha Barks, and Vanessa Williams for The Devil Wears Prada. Three decades in, the revolution is still going strong.

Book tickets to shows in our London Theatre 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Photo credit: Judi Dench in A Little Night Music; Samantha Bond, Maggie Smith, and Sara Kestelman in Three Tall Women, Elaine Page and John Barrowman in Sunset Blvd. Inset: LondonTheatre.co.uk's website now and in 1995. (Show images courtesy of productions)