London mayor Boris Johnson has said the West End is “open for business” as an investigation continues into what caused a theatre ceiling to collapse, injuring 80 people.
Safety experts are checking the capital’s theatres after a round 10 square metres of plaster from the Grade II-listed Apollo Theatre plummeted on to the stalls below, dragging a section of the balcony with it, striking members of the audience and filling the theatre with clouds of thick dust.
More than 700 people were inside the Apollo – which was 45 minutes into the National Theatre’s performance of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time – when members of the audience started screaming as it appeared parts of the ceiling caved in.
Some of the injured were taken to hospital on board London buses as the emergency services dealt with the incident on Shaftesbury Avenue in the heart of the capital.
Most were discharged shortly afterwards, having been mainly treated for cuts and bruises.
Mr Johnson said the response was “exemplary”, adding: “I would stress that, although it is too early to say what caused this collapse, and whilst this was a serious incident, London’s world-renowned Theatreland is open for business and thousands of theatre-goers will be out tonight and over the weekend.
“Westminster City Council and the Society of London Theatre have assured me that all safety checks for the West End’s historic theatres are up to date but, as a precaution, further checks have already started and will continue throughout the day.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman said they had ruled out criminal involvement and the investigation into what happened will be handled by the council.
Nicola Aiken, the council’s cabinet member for community protection, confirmed the theatre’s health and safety checks were “up to date”. She said: “Each historic theatre is unique and we have no reason to believe this is other than an isolated incident.
“We have confirmed today with the Society of London Theatre that all theatres’ safety checks are up to date; however, as a precaution, all historic theatres are carrying out further safety checks today.”
She said she could not “speculate” on how long the investigation would take and added that council staff would leave “no stone unturned” in investigating the cause.
One line of inquiry will be the effect of adverse weather on the 100-year-old building.
Forecasters confirmed there was an abnormally high concentration of rain, hail and lightning strikes in London between 7pm and 9pm last night, with nearly 15 per cent (14.5 per cent) of the average monthly rainfall for one area in December falling in one hour.
A MeteoGroup forecaster said: “In terms of that particularly heavy rain we had overnight, the heaviest was between 7pm and 8pm.
“There was 8mm (0.3in) in an hour in south London, and we had reports that some of that fell as hail.