Fredo’s Theatre Group’ has been running for more than 35 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 buying the tickets and running this website, whilst Fredo takes the bookings and organises 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 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!
Following the C-19 lockdown and closures of theatres, we are unsure of what the future holds for regular group theatre-going, but we hope to provide a theatre-going service again as soon as possible.
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 provide coach transport to the theatre from Southend.
We do not sell tickets to the general public
Tickets are usually sold at their reduced-price face value if the coach is not required from Southend. Occasionally we may add a small booking fee to the discounted value of the ticket (depending on the size of the discount) to cover our expenses but we normally charge no more than the price charged at the theatre box-office.
Southenders please note: A coach fare is added to the basic ticket price if coach travel is required. We have to pay a flat rate for coach hire, but the coach fare charged for each show sometimes needs to vary from show to show depending upon the numbers using the coaches and our admin costs. We try to add a cheaper coach fare to a more expensive ticket cost to keep the highest prices as low as possible.
You can email us at –
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 or 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. Tickets are distributed on the coach, but if you are not using the coach please send us saes so your tickets can be sent to you. Write the date of the show in your diary – we don’t want you to forget, or to come on the wrong day! 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 Fredo on his mobile (given on request).
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 our 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 us 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-mailing list. It is much easier and quicker for us to contact Group members by e-mail rather than send details in the post. We know some members still like to receive our old-style paper hand-outs but e-mail notifications are really more eco-friendly and cost effective.
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.
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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