Ahead of the proposed decision to be made by Kapitol Promotions into being able to host the 2020 National Championship of Great Britain top section final at the Royal Albert Hall in October, the venue's Chief Executive Officer has confirmed that under latest social distancing rules he feels that the hall "cannot viably reopen for the vast majority of events."

CEO post

In his latest post on the Royal Albert Hall website reviewing the past 100 days since the hall closed to the public, CEO Craig Hassall stated that despite taking out a £5 million loan and receiving donations, the venue will have depleted all their reserves and will run out of cash by "early 2021".

He stated: "...the Hall and venues like us find ourselves in a perilous situation."

In the blog posting he pointed out that under current social distancing rules the capacity of the Albert Hall would be reduced to 36%, with it having to run at between 80%-90% "for us to break even".

Cannot viably reopen

And whilst he said that "some one-off events will be viable" and that the BBC will be able to host live concerts for the final two weeks of the 2020 Proms, he confirmed with stark clarity that "...we cannot viably reopen for the vast majority of events."

In looking at a possible answer he said that there was a need for a "clear conditional timeline for reopening venues without social distancing, alongside a comprehensive business support package."

he confirmed with stark clarity that "we cannot viably reopen for the vast majority of events."4BR

Business support

He added: "The business support package should, most urgently, include an extension of the furlough scheme and support for the self-employed to prevent mass redundancies."

The article stated that the Royal Albert Hall costs £12.7m a year to maintain its Grade I-listed building and £14.3m to pay its staff.

In the 100 days since closure they would have expected revenue of £11m but instead had to refund nearly £5m worth of tickets, most of which were sold last year.