THESE are the ticket sale figures which York Theatre Royal has used to justify its decision not to renew the contracts of panto stars Suzy Cooper, Martin Barrass, David Leonard and AJ Powell.

Executive director Tom Bird said on Monday that tickets sales for it traditional panto were 'collapsing before our eyes.'

He said only 30,000 tickets had been sold for this year’s panto Sleeping Beauty - in which Berwick does not appear- compared with almost 55,000 for Dick Turpin in 2008, and although 49,000 tickets were sold last year, he said that was because sales were up for Berwick’s final shows before retiring and there had been a 'steady decline followed by a collapse.'

But former panto dame Berwick Kaler said any reduction was due to reductions in seat numbers, 'ridiculous' prices and a decision not to sell gallery seats until others had been sold, and called for the 'collapse' claims to be backed up.

Now the theatre has responded by The Press to a request for details of annual ticket sales by providing the stats for the last 13 years, which it said showed a steady decline in most years:

Sinbad the Sailor (2007):50,539

Dick Turpin (2008):54,190

Humpty Dumpty (2009):53,526

Jack and the Beanstalk (2010):53,113

York Family Robinson (2011):49,196

Robin Hood and his Merry Mam (2012):48,152

Aladdin and the Twankeys (2013):47,419

Old Mother Goose (2014):48,151

Dick Whittington and his Meerkat (2015):46,921

Cinderella (2016):44,677

Jack and the Beanstalk (2017):42,153

The Grand Old Dame of York (BK 40th and final year as dame):(2018) 49,422

Sleeping Beauty (2019):30,580 To date

The figures seem likely to provoke further debate on a heated topic, which has seen vociferous opposition's to the theatre's decision from many panto fans.