Lyceum Theatre

How Theatres Trust has supported London's Lyceum Theatre over the years

Today’s Fifty@50 theatre is different from the others we’ve featured, earning its place on the list not so much because of how we’ve helped the theatre (although we have), but because it is very important to Theatres Trust’s history.

For younger theatre audiences, the Lyceum Theatre in London will be synonymous with Disney’s The Lion King, the blockbuster musical that has been running in the theatre since 1999.

But the theatre was very nearly lost in the last century, with redevelopment proposals threatening its existence several times. The theatre closed in 1939 and was bought by the London County Council, which had plans to demolish the theatre to make room for road improvements. The Second World War put a stop to those plans, but the Lyceum was far from saved.

Another threat arose in 1968 when the Greater London Council (GLC) proposed to redevelop the Lyceum, as well as other West End theatres (Adelphi, Duchess, Garrick and Vaudeville). It was saved due to influential lobbying by the Save London Theatres Campaign, a group that involved many of the people who would go on to make the case for the formation of Theatres Trust. The Lyceum was successfully listed at Grade II* in 1973, giving it further protection from redevelopment.

The abolition of the GLC in 1986 created a couple of key opportunities for Theatres Trust. Theatres Trust was looking for a new Director to take over and this timing meant that GLC’s Historic Buildings Division section leader, John Earl was available to take on the role.

John was a key member of the committee and principal author of what would become the 1982 publication Curtains!!! (or a New Life for Old Theatres) a record of all surviving pre-1914 theatres and music halls in Great Britain.

With his knowledge of GLC assets, John Earl was able to secure the freeholds to the Lyric Theatre, Garrick Theatre and eventually in 1989 the Lyceum, which gave Theatres Trust an independent income that ultimately allows us to support more theatres.

Throughout the 1960s and 1980s, the Lyceum was used as a venue for rock and pop concerts and for television broadcasts. In 1996, Apollo Leisure became its new tenant, restoring the theatre back to its original use for large-scale musicals. The rest, as they say, is history…

We’ve continued to provide support to the theatre’s operators over the years just as we would with any other theatre. Most recently, this has been by providing pre-application advice on plans to create a new Priority Club Bar on the first floor of the Lyceum’s 1996 extension, an essential development that ensures the theatre continues to be viable and meets audience expectations.

This case study was produced as part of our Fifty@50 campaign to mark our 50th anniversary in 2026.

Photo credit: Ian Grundy