New Victoria Theatre — Attraction in Woking

I came here a few weeks ago to watch one of my favourite comedians who was on tour, and what should have been a fun evening became extremely frustrating and disappointing.

First, I greeted the two staff members when I walked inside and neither of them acknowledged me, but I didn’t want to immediately assume the worst so I waited for some time. I said hello again and received no response or action from either, so I deduced that maybe they didn’t actually work there and were just waiting for someone. As I moved to walk past them, one of them rudely snapped at me to show them my ticket (despite me having tried to do so for about a minute) and they proceeded to only talk to each me another and ignored me again.

Next, I went to get some water from the bar and they had only one member of staff serving the line that was reaching all the way around the foyer! She was doing a great job and was very calm and patient when it was my turn, but it is ridiculous and unfair to try and get through a sold out Saturday night stand-up gig with one bartender.

Finally, as I went to find my seat (now very close to the start of the show after waiting over 20 minutes at the bar), I walked into my row to discover that someone was in my seat. Somehow it had been double booked. I’m aware that this is not the fault of the staff, however the next 10 minutes were spent running around the foyer trying to get help and either being ignored, being sent to someone who also couldn’t help, or simply being told “I don’t know what to do.” In the end I had to find my way to the box office (which is quite literally not even in the theatre) and was asked about where I bought the ticket etc, when all I wanted was to get another seat so that I wouldn’t waste any more time.

I ended up missing the start of the show and felt agitated and dismissed during this experience. As a takeaway, I found the staff to be unprofessional, lazy and unhelpful and had I even been told “I’m sorry about this” or had someone know where to go to handle it I would have been able to...

A nice theatre over all. Situated within a shopping centre with easy access to various food outlets and a massive car park. Incidentally the closest car park is the Victoria Place Blue Carpark- Google say it has 860 spaces with a 2.1 metre height restriction. The theatre itself appears to be a newer build and is split into two main levels with a bar on each. Drinks and snacks are incredibly expensive and we refused to get a second round. This is apparently due to AGT wanting to align their prices with the rest of their venues. But let’s be real you can’t really compare Woking Theatre to the likes of Oxford and London so let’s not also compare the prices. Viewing seems to be pretty good from virtually all seating areas however we chose the stalls as they are sloped giving a nice view without having the persons head infront obstruct anything. Aside from the ludicrous pricing, unfortunately the main downside is the seating. Each row is one continuous line of chairs with no centre aisle which means that you are constantly standing to let people into their seats. The chairs themselves have a good amount of leg room before the chair infront which is great, but they have packed those chairs in so tight that they forget not everyone is a petite person. The chairs are very narrow which means my broad shoulders were hunched together so I didn’t invade the chairs on either side. As the persons sat either side of me were also doing the same it made for uncomfortable viewing. Armrests are intentionally short otherwise they would not allow room for larger people to sit at all so don’t expect to rest your arms on them during the performance. The seat itself was also short, coming only to my mid thigh. It was incredibly uncomfortable and I left with a sore back hence why I only gave 3 stars. To end on a positive note though, I would say each member of staff we encountered were very...

I arrived at the theatre in very good time and joined a queue to claim drinks that I had already paid for in advance online. The queues were long because the bar was very understaffed and after waiting in line for 25 minutes, just as I got to the head of the queue to be served a person identifying themselves as William Bowden (who also later said he was the manager of the venue when I asked to speak to the manager) walked in front of me and stated that the bar was closed, a full 10 minutes before the start of the performance and a full FIVE MINUTES earlier than they had advertised. I tried to explain that I had already bought and paid for my drinks and wanted to take them in to the theatre with me, if would be a matter of a few seconds. He then started talking over top of me, condescending to me, refusing to listen and just repeatedly saying "I'll let Ricky know" (the Ricky being Ricky Gervais). I tried to explain that I was diabetic and that I needed a drink as my mouth was very dry and I was feeling light-headed but every time I opened my mouth to explain I was shut down with a loud "I'll let Ricky know" and a dismissive hand wave. He even laughed at me as I walked away from him in a display of breath-taking arrogance, ignorance and rudeness. I have never felt so insulted, talked-down to and dismissed in my life. It was a disgrace. It completely ruined the entire evening and as good As Ricky Gervais was I left having had one of the worst experiences of my life as regards a night out. I could not enjoy the show as I was so angry at my treatment. I paid the venue for my drinks, not Ricky Gervais. Blaming him is as obscene as my...