a Case Study for

Hull Theatres

Hull Theatres combines two major venues, Hull City Hall and Hull New Theatre.
Two crucial venues for the city and region with the ability to host all types of events all year round. Together both theatres complement each other with one being a major touring theatre and the other being a fantastic concert hall.
Both venues are Grade II listed buildings.

Background

Hull Theatres combines two major venues, Hull City Hall and Hull New Theatre. Both venues have a rich history that dates back to the early 1900’s. Most recently, Hull New Theatre went through a major £17 Million refurbishment in 2017, which was also the year Hull was accredited the UK City of Culture.

Over the years the venues have hosted a wide range of events including some big names at Hull City Hall such as Elton John, Black Sabbath and The Who and recently, MTVs unplugged with Liam Gallagher along with a wide range of headline comedy acts and world leading orchestras. Hull New Theatre presents the best in touring theatre including Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Productions and major West End musicals with Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérables visiting the East Yorkshire venue in 2022 for the first time showing a testament to the 2017 investment and state of the art upgrades.

Hull Theatres, both Hull New Theatre and Hull City Hall have very quickly become two crucial venues for the city and region with the ability to host all types of events all year round. Together both theatres complement each other with one being a major touring theatre and the other being a fantastic concert hall.

The Solution

Hull Theatres were looking for a solution to help push in-auditorium sales, merchandise sales, programme sales and next step options such as VIP hospitality deals etc.

After analysing front of house processes and retail processes to see how they could not only maximise on additional sales, but also streamline operations within each venue; they decided to invest in a solution where there was a dedicated process in ensuring customers can receive orders from the comfort of their seat, which included QR codes advertised around the venues, and at seats to order on a mobile & pay app for efficient, fast and streamlined service that takes the pressure off the bars.

When deciding on a supplier to help them achieve this, they decided on pointOne. It was evident in their research that pointOne came out as industry leading and was able to supply Hull Theatres with tablets, kitchen screens and a bespoke mobile order & pay app. Another reason they invested in the tablets was to futureproof the venues so they can consider doing pop up sales stands in the future.

“The seat service has just revolutionised our theatres, our dedicated and loyal customers are thrilled their theatre now has that type of sophisticated service which matches the experience of major West End theatres. It’s transformed so many different areas, whether that’s reducing queues at bars or just allowing patrons to spend more time enjoying magical moments with no queue and getting a variety of items in one transaction. Because there’s now a different way to serve patrons, it’s also engaged a whole new customer base and we’ve been able to capture that customer by being able to sell through a digital app.”

Jozef Csendes, Operations Manager

The key benefits in the seat service are queue times are significantly down, which subsequently means shows are more likely to start on time, intervals start and end on time without anyone waiting around and ultimately its seen a new income stream which is so crucial to all venues within this industry.

The Future

The future for Hull Theatres is very exciting with plans to continue to develop and grow both Hull City Hall and Hull New Theatre as world class facilities for the City of Hull. They’d like to build on the success of the recent New Theatre refurbishment with continued reinvestment back into the venerable historical building and work towards a comparable major refurbishment to the City Hall in the years to come.

They are also committed to totally levelling up the overall customer experience and ensure there is something for everyone when they visit both venues that is smart, streamlined, and accessible. Hull Theatres are actively looking and adapting to what theatre retail should be to ensure customers get the best possible experience every time they visit.

“I think pointOne is now the operational beating heart in our front of house retail experience at Hull Theatres, it’s revolutionised a full internal web of systems which are a fundamental element to any theatres day to day operations – whether that’s how our customers order, how our staff record their retail exercises or how we use crucial data to record, report and review what retail trends happen year on year within our world class theatres”.

JOZEF CSENDES, OPERATIONS MANAGER

“ The key benefits in the seat service are queue times are significantly down, which subsequently means shows are more likely to start on time, intervals start and end on time without anyone waiting around and ultimately its seen a new income stream which is so crucial to all venues within this industry”.

JOZEF CSENDES, OPERATIONS MANAGER