Drury Returns To Wembley

Following the experience of minding the fort when outgoing Wembley Arena general manager Peter Tudor took a three-month sabbatical last year, John Drury will be returning to take up the post full time, starting in May.

Tudor is leaving the venue after 10 years, as reported in Pollstar three weeks ago, to become senior director of group sales for Ticketmaster U.K.

Currently heading up Live Nation’s venue bookings team, Drury has a nearly two-decade association with the venue. He did marketing and bookings for the venue before moving on to the old London Docklands Arena.

When SFX bought Apollo Leisure eight years ago, Paul Latham – who was the latter’s regional manager as is now president of Live Nation U.K. – soon poached him to run venue bookings team for the new setup.

"He has very good relationships with all the promoters, which is extremely important to us, and he really enjoyed it when he had a spell in the job last year," Latham said. "When Peter said he was moving on, John was the obvious successor.

"Hello Wembley…again," Drury said in a press statement. "I am delighted to be heading back to Wembley Arena. It’s a historic venue that has become a magnet for a wide range of artists from all over the world.

"Peter leaves behind an excellent team, whose willingness to offer the best possible service to our promoters and customers is matched by the flexibility of the building itself."