Royal Albert Hall asks public for £20m aid to avert crisis

THE Royal Albert Hall, where a box was put on the market for £3million two years ago, is begging for £20million from the public to stave off a financial crisis.

The London venue, which does not rely on public subsidy, yesterday issued a call for “urgent public donations to survive the impact of Covid-19” complaining that lockdown has cost it £18million in lost revenues.

However, critics asked whether the venue could raise more money from private owners who control about a quarter of the seats worth hundreds of millions of pounds in the 5,200-capacity hall. Under the rules governing the charity that runs the central London venue, members are free to sell seats as private property. In 2018, a 12-seat box in the grand tier at the hall was put on the market for £3million.

Craig Hassall, chief executive of the Royal Albert Hall, said the venue was not eligible for an emergency grant from the Government’s £1.57 billion arts rescue package, although it had been advised to apply for a loan which, if successful, will arrive in December.

He said: “The Royal Albert Hall now faces a bleak future unless it can secure not only a repayable Government loan, but also urgent donations to plug our current £20million shortfall.

“Six months on from enforced closure, and circa £18million down in lost income, we are not eligible for any of the emergency grants. This leaves us in an extremely perilous position, with no way of replacing our lost income, apart from a Government loan which may or may not materialise.”

However, Richard Lyttelton, a former president of Royal Albert Hall and a long-standing critic of the charity’s governance, said that the members who own seats should be “the first port of call” for the appeal.

Musicians are currently performing live at the hall, but without an audience due to coronavirus restrictions, across the final two weeks of the BBC Proms.

A socially distanced Last Night of the Proms, when Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia will be sung, is due to be broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday.