Proud To Be Independent: Q’s With Alexandra Palace Commercial Director Lucy Fenner

– Lucy Fenner
Commercial Director of Alexandra Palace

Pollstar speaks with Lucy Fenner, commercial director of Alexandra Palace – or Ally Pally, as most Londoners would call it – one of the UK’s most iconic venues, about the state of business.

 

We’ve just celebrated a historic year at the venue – hosting more concerts, welcoming more music fans than ever before and opened up a new venue (Alexandra Palace Theatre). We’ve laid the groundwork for an extraordinary future for Ally Pally and the charity.

 

 

There is no venue like Ally Pally. Not only do we have a history and legacy of live music that few venues can compete with, but as the biggest all standing venue in the country – the atmosphere at a show here is like nothing else. We’ve also been proudly independent since opening our doors in 1873. That’s something that should be celebrated!

 

 

Operating costs, particularly of a large historic venue like this one, are increasing all the time so as a charity we are always looking at how we can diversify our income streams. It is also a hugely competitive market which means venues have to offer more to their customers and not rest on their laurels. We were one of the first venues to really invest in the experience of coming to a gig – providing street food and entertainment from the moment people walk through the door. The competitiveness encourages us to be more creative and do more to shout about what makes this venue so unique.

 

 

10,250 indoors in the main area, 1,300 for concerts in the theatre, 20,000 for live music events in the Park and up to 50,000 for events that run across both the Park & Palace – like our annual Fireworks Festival.

 

 

Despite being almost 150 years old, we’re an incredibly flexible venue with multiple halls and spaces so can accommodate all kinds of performances and more than one event at any one time. We also have a licence to host live events in our park – no other London venue can offer 7 acres of historic building and 196 acres of parkland. Our festival Kaleidoscope demonstrated how the site can be used – taking place in our halls and out on the park slopes. 

 

 

What doesn’t Alexandra Palace host? In the next month alone we have theatre, trade shows, two concerts, comedy, opera, a disco on our ice rink, wrestling and StrEATlife – a free live music event set along our beautiful terrace and makes the most of those breath-taking views of London.

 

 

We’d struggle to get more diverse than we already are but we are always open to new events!

 

 

Year on year we are also seeing growth with our music bookings, so the appetite for live music doesn’t seem to be going away. We’re now hosting more than 150 events with 25%, and growing fast, being live music

 

 

Our tickets sales across all event genres are nearing a million! We hosted 32 live music nights in our Great Hall (main event space) alone with attendances of more than 300,000. We’re early into 2019 but we expect to exceed that record. 

Lloyd Winters – Anderson .Paak
Lighting up the stage at Ally Pally

 

 

Touring a show can be expensive for promoters and artists – particularly with higher production values and so more crew required so that will be reflected in the price. I think shows at this venue are fairly priced – reflecting the quality of the show and the calibre performer.

 

 

Ally Pally is always looking for the next project – whether it’s continuing to restore more of the building and opening up derelict spaces (we will be opening up the Victorian basements to an arts company this summer) , develop our in-house roster of events or continuing to grow our creative learning programme which works with communities in Haringey and beyond.

 

 

This is a hugely innovative industry that’s constantly embracing new technology and we were one of the first venues to partner with Melody VR to capture our shows in a new format so it will be exciting to see where it goes. Mainly through it’s the people that work within this industry, their creativity & talent ,that provides excitement & enjoyment to so many

 

 

Ally Pally is proud to be independent and every penny we make goes back into maintaining this beautiful building. Playing here means so much – it’s not just about one amazing night and entertaining 10,000 people but helping us keep this space open for the next generation. I would like to thank all the Promoters, artists, management, agencies and of course our customer who have supported us to date.. Team Ally Pally look forward to hosting more amazing shows  in the future with them all.

Lloyd Winters – Alexandra Palace
Aside from seven acres of historic building, the venue also offers 196 acres of parkland for events, such as the Kaleidscope Festival.