News: Trafalgar Entertainment and HQ Theatres join forces

Trafalgar Entertainment and HQ Theatres have announced that they have joined forces to bring together the UK’s largest specialist regional theatre operator and Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire’s premium international live entertainment business.

HQ was founded as part of Nick Thomas MBE’s Qdos Entertainment Group, which operates 11 UK venues including Southend Cliffs Pavilion, G Live, Guildford, Bromley’s Churchill Theatre and the Orchard Theatre, Dartford, as well as the New Theatre, Cardiff.

Trafalgar Entertainment, which was co-founded by Panter and Squire in 2017, has grown significantly in the last few years, owning London’s Trafalgar Theatre. This is set to reopen after major refurbishment with Jersey Boys in summer 2021. The company will also be opening Australia’s Theatre Royal Sydney in September.

Trafalgar Entertainment is a major producer through Trafalgar Theatre Productions and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, plus is the leading distributor of live-streaming content through Trafalgar Releasing. It is also home to Stagecoach Performing Arts, ticket agency London Theatre Direct, Luke Shires Marketing, Chiswick Cinema and More2Screen.

Nick Thomas MBE, Chairman and Founder of Qdos Entertainment Group said, “My team and I built HQ from small beginnings to be a major player in the UK theatre and live entertainment sector. I am delighted that the journey will continue for the team through this collaboration with Trafalgar Entertainment to further develop HQ, the business I founded. This is not so much the end of an era as the beginning of an exciting new chapter for HQ, together with the company’s producer and local authority partners.”

Dame Rosemary Squire, said, “HQ Theatres is a fantastic business and on behalf of the team at Trafalgar Entertainment, we’re thrilled to be partnering with them for the future. It’s a credit to the whole team that they have navigated the recent closure period so successfully and are poised to emerge intact and well placed for future growth as the sector rebuilds. Our aim is to add value and
investment, through Trafalgar Entertainment, to their portfolio of venues to accelerate growth and to build the business. But of course HQ will continue to do what it does best – offering a premium live theatre and entertainment experience – complemented with an industry leading food and drink offer – to theatregoers up and down the country.”

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