From 6 May 2025 Torch Theatre will be introducing a 10% booking fee on all tickets purchases online, over the phone, and in-person. There will be a maximum cap of £2.00 meaning you benefit from buying multiple tickets in one transaction.

Previously we have charged a flat rate of £2.00 on all online transactions. We have to change this as our in-person ticket sales incur many of the same additional charges, such as credit card fees and charges from our ticketing software, and we are no longer able to absorb these costs.

We have decided to charge a percentage, rather than a fixed fee, as this is a fairer way of ensuring the booking fee is proportional to the ticket price. This means those booking one ticket won’t be stung by a large booking fee, and those making bigger bookings will benefit from the cap. If you buy one concession cinema ticket for £7.00, the booking fee will be 70p, meaning you pay £7.70 in total. Whereas if you make a large booking of multiple tickets for £350.00 you will get charged a £2.00 booking fee as this has reached the cap amount.

We will also be introducing an amendment fee of £1 per ticket (capped at £5) for any changes made to ticket purchases. This means if you want to change the date or seats you have booked there will now be a charge for this.

We have tried to avoid these changes for as long as possible, but this is the best way for us to keep our ticket prices affordable and ensure you get the best Box Office service from us. All changes are in line with the new government legislation regarding booking fees. We appreciate your understanding and ongoing support. If you have any questions please email us at support@torchtheatre.co.uk .

Thank you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why don’t you just put ticket prices up?

A. All income from ticket sales must be shared between us and the visiting company / cinema distributor. To cover our ticketing costs in a price increase we would have to increase ticket prices by a much larger amount to ensure we were still covering our costs and giving the visiting company/ cinema distributor their share. By applying a booking fee the money goes directly to covering ticketing costs, at the lowest possible price for audiences.

Q. Why are you applying this charge to in-person and over the phone transactions?

A. In-person and over the phone ticket sales incur many of the same additional charges, such as credit card fees and charges from our ticketing software as online sales. Online sales require website hosting costs and in person / over the phone transactions require us to have staff working on Box Office. Previously we absorbed these costs, but due to the rising costs we are all experiencing we are no longer able to absorb these costs and felt it was fairer to apply these charges across all transactions, rather than increase the online fees only.

Q. What is the Booking Fee paying for?

A. The Booking Fee directly covers our costs related to ticket sales, this includes; credit card charges, bank charges for handling cash,  Box Office personnel, website hosting fees and the percentage our ticketing software charges for each ticket sale. We do not make any profit from the Booking fee.

Q. Does this comply with the new government legislation? I thought you couldn’t charge booking fees now?

A. This does comply with the new legislation as we are being upfront about this charge and will include information about the Booking Fee at all points of sale.

Q. Why have you introduced an Admin Fee for changing ticket details?

A. We try to be as flexible as possible, acknowledging that sometimes plans change, however our Box Office staff have to spend a lot of time amending bookings which has a direct cost to us. Again, we sadly are no longer able to absorb these costs and we are working to keep this charge as low as possible.