It’s been announced that the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre is to be reacquired by the Ambassador Theatre Group.

ATG originally ran the venue from 1996 to 2007 before the theatre was sold to Stephen Waley-Cohen. The 444-seat theatre was the home of STOMP in the West End where it ran for 15 years before closing in January 2018. Since then the production has housed productions of BEGINNING, ALL OR NOTHING, PRESSURE, FOXFINDER and SWITZERLAND. The Almeida Theatre’s production of THE TWILIGHT ZONE will transfer to the venue in March 2019.

According to a report in The Stage, the theatre has been sold for around the sum of £12 million. ATG will reportedly take formal control of the venue from January 2019.

ATG chief executive Mark Cornell said: ‘I’m thrilled to welcome this gem of a venue back to ATG. It’s a much-loved theatre within the producer community and its size makes it the perfect complement to our existing West End portfolio. I look forward to ATG hosting and presenting exciting work at the Ambassadors Theatre’.

The purchase follows a collapsed deal between Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Waley-Cohen. Mackintosh had publicly announced plans to completely renovate the theatre into a black box studio space named the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, with the intention of transferring lesser seen works from the fringe sector for longer runs. ATG reportedly offered double the price that Mackintosh offered for the venue.

The reacquisition of the Ambassadors brings ATG’s theatre ownership up to 46 venues across the country, including 10 theatres in the West End.