A LARGE number of people who visit shows at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms are from other parts of the country the latest figures show after an excellent year for the venue.

While the majority of the 19,000 bookings come from Ludlow and south Shropshire more than 10 per cent are from outside the area including London and the south east of England.

A postcode analysis of the Assembly Rooms’ audiences for last year revealed that, as expected, the great majority (over 19,000) live in the SY local postcode area, and thousands more in other local postcode areas, but a surprising number of people come from well outside the area.

There were 560 bookings from people who live in Greater London, 1,208 from Birmingham, 588 from the south east – including Oxford, Portsmouth and Brighton and 511 from the north east – including Chester, Manchester and Stockport.

The figures are welcome news for the venue after a year in which Arts Council funding to the centre was cut.

“We’re always delighted to welcome visitors to the area, and often we bring real added value to a visitor’s experience,” said Paula Redway, director of the Assembly Rooms.

“This year’s Medieval Fayre at Ludlow Castle was in the middle of a very cold snap. Hundreds of visitors made their way to Ludlow Assembly Rooms to warm up in the café, and lots of them decided to stay on in Ludlow overnight to watch the Sunday matinee of the new Harry Potter film which we were screening on release.

“It was great that we were able to offer that ‘added extra’ to people visiting Ludlow for a day or a weekend – it’s having an all-round good experience that makes people return time after time, and tell all their friends what a great place Ludlow is to visit”.