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Nightclub ticket sales surge 368% ahead of Freedom Day in the South West, says events platform FIXR

Peter Evans
Authored by Peter Evans
Posted: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 - 14:35

Pre-sales of tickets for nightclubs and other nightlife venues are up by 368% across the South West as the region braces itself for a hospitality boom starting on “Freedom Day”.

The data, compiled by digital ticketing and events platform FIXR, shows the enormous increase in ticket sales across the South West for the period July 1st to August 31st, 2021 when compared with the same period in 2019, the nearest comparable pre-pandemic period. The news is potentially a boost for beleaguered hospitality venues as so-called Freedom Day approaches on July 19th.

Cities including Exeter, Plymouth and Bristol lead the way, with FIXR’s co-founder and chief executive, Edmund Glover, attributing the surge in ticket sales to the South West’s high number of venues combined with an influx of holidaymakers to the region.

“Partly because no one is allowed to travel, this is one of the indicators that we’re in for a real staycation British summer,” Glover told SWTD. “It’s an unexpected silver lining for a challenged industry.”

FIXR is based in in London, but has strong links to the South West. It started in 2015 as a ticketing platform for students to book events, with the universities of Exeter and Bristol among its biggest markets. Since then, it has raised £6.5m in funding and now employs 25 people. FIXR has branched out to provide white label and branded ticketing software to venues, as well continuing to offer a solution to small-scale event organisers. It recently started working with REKOM UK, the UK's biggest nightclub operator and owner of the Pryzm chain.

Glover added: “There is a bit of an art in having software doesn’t confuse the amateur event organiser and is powerful enough for the professional.”

As the pandemic forced the economy closed down, Glover worried for FIXR’s future, but foresight from the executive team and calms nerves from the company’s investors means the future now looks bright. 

“At the beginning the threat of the pandemic was potentially existential, but we were fortunate enough to have shareholders who saw opportunity in the chaos. They reinvested with the goal of making it the sort of platform established businesses wanted to use.”

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