This is a not-for-profit UK theatre group for our friends and colleagues and their own extended group of friends. It costs nothing to join us but must be by personal introduction from another member of the group. We arrange reduced price group theatre bookings on selected dates for a wide variety of London’s West End shows, and separately provide coach transport to the theatre from Southend.
We do not sell tickets to the general public.
Fredo’s Theatre Group’ has been running for more than 40 years and started when Fredo hired a coach to take a group of friends and work colleagues to see Cats. Everyone enjoyed the evening and encouraged him to organise another theatre trip…and then another. From once a month to almost once a week, the group outings have become more frequent over the years, and the group has multiplied. Mike became the other half of the admin ‘team’ in 1989 and concentrates on the running of this website, whilst Fredo takes the bookings and (until September 2025) organised the coaches. How do we choose which shows to book? It’s easy – we book what WE want to see, with sometimes a little persuasion from our friends! It’s our hobby and we love doing it. Some people have become ‘frequent flyers’ and join us for most trips, but we welcome new friends and friends-of-friends. Many Londoners now join us too (without need of coach travel from Southend) so they can benefit from our reduced-price tickets. As the price of seats continues to rise, we look out for the best offers and for early booking rates. We keep admin costs as low as possible and try to provide the best seats available to groups at the lowest price without making a loss! We are grateful to the theatres which give us good group discounts on our bookings, and to the helpful staff at box offices and group ticket agencies who give us such good friendly service. And we are grateful to everyone who supports our efforts – your enjoyment is our enjoyment too!
Tickets are sold at the reduced group price but we normally add a small booking fee to the discounted value of the ticket (depending on the size of the discount) to cover our expenses. However we never charge more than the price charged at the theatre box-office.
Southenders please note:
Update September 2025 – We no longer take bookings for the coach which is separately dealt with by Cooks Coaches of Southend.
SPECIAL NOTE: Many of our friends have told us that they would like to continue joining us at the theatre. As we shall not be able to organise coach transport from September 2025, Cook’s Coaches do intend to run an optional coach to our shows. This will be a separate transaction from booking a show so you must book your coach fare directly with their office, as soon as possible after booking your theatre tickets with us. You can then still travel safely with friends, and benefit from our special group theatre ticket discounts.
Return COACH fare: £22 (Sept ’25)
Please note that the coach must be booked and payment made to Cook’s Coaches.
Enquiries – Tel: 01702 344702.
You can email us at –
fredo@theatreguys.co.uk
mike@theatreguys.co.uk
fredoandmike@theatreguys.co.uk
General Data Protection Regulation 2018 For our records, we only hold details of your Name, Address, Telephone Number and importantly your email address if you have given us this information. It is ONLY used to contact you regarding the Theatre visits we offer you, and we regularly send out emails to everyone on our list to give you information and advise you that our website has been updated. We NEVER pass on this information to any other organisation nor permit anyone to email you on our behalf. If at any time you decide you do not wish to receive emails from us, please let us know and we shall delete your details from our email list.
Conditions of sale
Please note:
1. All booking requests are accepted as firm bookings, and must be paid for.
2. Prompt payment is appreciated, and PAYMENTS MUST BE MADE WITHIN ONE WEEK OF BOOKING. This prevents confusion and anxiety, and us being out of pocket.
3. If a ticket is booked and then cancelled, it still has to be paid for.
4. I will assist where I can in the resale of unwanted tickets. But please note:
a) I cannot guarantee resale;
b) There may be an administration fee; and
c) Money from resold tickets will be credited against further bookings.
All bookings are taken as ‘firm’, not ‘provisional’, so please check your diaries before ordering tickets. We have to confirm numbers and pay by a given date, and theatres will make no refunds or exchange tickets once purchased. I’m sure that everyone will appreciate that I have to pay for all the tickets you order well in advance of the performance; any unpaid cancellations would leave me out of pocket!
When sending cheques, please write the title of the show(s) you are booking for on the back of the cheque AND on your cheque stub to prevent any confusion. Write the date of the show in your diary – we don’t want you to forget, or to come on the wrong day!
From September 2025, for coach travellers tickets will no longer be distributed on the coach. Please enclose a Stamped Addressed Envelope when sending your cheque to us, so we can send the tickets to you.
If you book transport with Cooks Coaches, please don’t be late at the coach pick-up point. We know problems can occur but the coach cannot wait for late-comers. If you are delayed, please phone Cooks Coaches as Fredo will be unable to assist you.
Our cancellation policy: At the time of writing, we have only had to cancel two coach trips to the theatre in our history and both were caused by the bad weather in 2010. We do not take any decision to cancel lightly. The safety of our passengers is our priority. We have to consider both the weather conditions travelling to London and especially the possible conditions travelling home after a show. We check the weather forecast and take advice from the coach drivers. If there is any doubt, we put caution first. If we do have to cancel in such emergencies, ticket refunds cannot be given unless the theatre cancels the performance and offers us refunds. However, if a coach trip has to be cancelled and you wish to make your own way to the theatre, please ask Fredo for your ticket details and you will then be able to obtain a duplicate ticket at the theatre.
We have no connection to any links and show ads on this website, but they are chosen by us for their relevance to our interests and those of the Group.
Mailing List – Please let us know if you wish your email address to be added to or removed from our regular emailing list.
Finally, a word of caution. On occasional theatre visits, someone forgets to come! Maybe they didn’t make a note in their diary or, if we were visiting a show more than once, they were unsure of which date they booked. As bookings are often made far in advance, PLEASE mark your diaries and calendars, AND write the name of the show on your cheque stubs as a record of what you have paid for. We normally can’t resell your ticket at the theatre so do take extra care about What, When and Where.
Images and advertisements used on this website are reproduced for the same promotional purposes as was their original intent – to promote the shows. All are readily available online via Google. The photographers are credited whenever possible. Please advise us if any material should be removed. (fredoandmike@theatreguys.co.uk)
Many thanks to all the other websites to which we provide links. If there is any copyright material which should not be on this website, please notify us so it may be removed.
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