Terms and Conditions

All tickets includes a contribution towards our restoration levy of £2.50 per transaction

Booking refund protection is an optional service offered by The Customs House and administered by Ticketplan on their behalf. It Is NOT an insurance policy. Ticketplan is a third-party agent. Please read their terms and conditions before purchase. For information on our offered TicketPlan booking refund protection, please click HERE

For Information about BBFC classifications, please click HERE

Where an event has been cancelled or re-scheduled, we will notify you by email and/or telephone. It is your responsibility to inform us of any change to your contact address, telephone number or email address you provide us with at the time of ordering.

The Customs House reserves the right to make alterations to the published programme where reasonably necessary. The Customs House does not guarantee the appearance of any specific named performers in any of its shows.

The management of The Customs House reserves the right to refuse ticket holder’s admission to the Venue in reasonable circumstances including for health and safety, licensing reasons or where a ticket is void.

The management also reserves the right to request that ticket holders leave the Venue at any point on reasonable grounds and may take any appropriate action to enforce this right. By way of example, the Venue may remove a ticket holder who:
1) has behaved in the Venue in a manner which, in the reasonable opinion of the Venue has, or is likely to affect the enjoyment of other visitors; or
2) uses threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour or in any way provokes or behaves in a manner which may provoke a breach of the peace; or
3) in the reasonable opinion of the Venue is under the influence of drugs or has consumed an excessive amount of alcohol; or
4) fails, when required, to produce proof of identity or age; or
5)obstructs gangways, access-ways, exits, entrances or staircases, congregates in non-designated areas or seeks entry to stands or seats for which he/she does not hold a Ticket.
6) is found to be smoking (including e-cigarettes) within our building.

No refunds will be given to ticket holders who are refused entry or ejected due to their own behaviour as suggested in, but not limited to, the examples above.

Babes in arms (children under 2 unless otherwise stated at the time of booking and on the ticket) will only be admitted to performances that are specifically aimed for them (pantomimes and shows permitting under 5s only). Where babes in arms are permitted, they shall be admitted for a small charge. If any other age restrictions apply for a particular performance this will be stated on the relevant production page of our website.

Children (ages 11 years and under) must be supervised at all times. Supervision of children shall be by not less than 1 adult (aged 18 years or over) per 10 children and the supervising adult must sit next to the child/ren. The Management reserves the right to ask parents / supervisors to remove children if, in the opinion of the Management, they are causing a disturbance.

Your contract for the purchase of Ticket(s) is formed as soon as We have processed Your payment and will expire immediately after the performance of the Event for which You purchased Ticket(s). However, any purchases are subject to payment card verification and other security checks and Your transaction may be cancelled if it has not passed Our verification processes.

Our Terms and Conditions do not apply to purchases for tickets made from third parties. If you have any queries or complaints regarding your purchase of tickets from third parties, please contact them direct.

Ticket Protection is available to purchase via our website. This service is provided by Ticketplan. Their Terms and Conditions can be viewed HERE.

The website operator, affiliates and business partners each reserve copyright in all content that they provide to the site, including but not limited to design, text, software, drawings, graphics and other files. None of these may be republished, reproduced, downloaded, displayed, distributed, posted transmitted or sold in any form or by any means in whole or in part without prior written permission of the copyright owner. No part of this website content may be reproduced and reused for any commercial purpose whatsoever. All page headers, button icons, collection material, custom graphics and all other types of graphics used on this site may not be copied or imitated without the right owner’s permission. Indemnification by users. Users of this website agree to indemnify, defend and hold the web site operators, officers, directors, employees, agents and business partners harmless from any loss, liability, claim, demand, damage or expense asserted by any third party relating to a visitor’s use of this web site or breach of these terms of use.

If you select “print at home ticket” your tickets will be delivered to the email address provided when you registered on our site. Your print at home ticket must be printed or presented on a mobile or tablet device. Paper tickets will be delivered to the address provided when you registered on our site. Tickets can also be picked up from our Box Office. Please note there is a charge for collecting tickets at box office and postal tickets.

The Customs House Trust Ltd has used its best efforts to obtain the most accurate and reliable information available and does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information on or accessed through this website.

By providing links to other sites, The Customs House Trust does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or product available at those sites, nor does a link indicate any association between the linked site and the operator of this website.

The Friends Membership scheme provides a number of benefits to patrons which comprise the following:

  • Priority booking for every new brochure
  • A special Friends price on selected shows
  • No booking fee for online purchases
  • Half price cinema tickets
  • 10% discount on food and beverage in Dame Bella’s bar & bistro
  • Free postage on tickets purchased from the box office
  • Monthly coffee mornings where you can meet fellow Friends and special guest speakers
  • Exchange tickets up to 48 hours before event without charge

For the purposes of calculating gift aid the benefits have been valued at £5, the additional payment of £25 is treated as a freely given donation. The benefits can be obtained for a minimum payment of £5 without any additional donation being made.

The terms of use and all other legal clauses of this web site shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law. English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to resolve any dispute arising from communications and transactions arising from the use of this website.

The operators of this website will not be liable to users or any third party for any damages whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, incidental or consequential relating to or arising out of a visitor’s use of this website.

The website may contain links to other sites. Although utmost care is exercised in providing links to sites that share our high standards, The Customs House Trust shall not be responsible for the content, security, availability and privacy practices used by such linked sites. The linked pages are provided for the convenience of our website users only and do not constitute an approval of their services or practices. Links from other web sites to our home page do not require prior permission from us but deep linking into any other page of our site should not be affected without prior permission from us.

If you have a problem regarding a product or service that you have bought, you can settle your dispute out-of-court through an Alternative Dispute Resolution or Online Dispute Resolution (ADR / ODR) procedure.

The Customs House Trust Ltd has used utmost care to ensure and maintain the accuracy, completeness and currency of information published on this site. We, however, take no responsibility for any errors or omission, though if notified of any we will endeavour to rectify such.

Our current box office opening times are as follows: 
Box Office and Bella’s Bar Bistro are closed to the public every Monday.

If you are visiting us on a Monday for a booked event, or have a delivery please call: 0191 427 8199 or 0191 427 8180.

Our Weekly Opening Hours Are:

Box Office – Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 3pm
Bella’s – Tuesday to Sunday 9:30am until 3pm

The Customs House opens one hour before a show
The Customs House Cinema opens 30 minutes before advertised screening time

Bella’s Bar Bistro
9.30am – 3pm (Tuesday – Sunday)
One hour before showtime for a selection of hot and cold beverages.
We are currently not open on Mondays

Pay What You Decide Theatre Events: You will need to book in advance but can pay whatever you decide. We have added some suggested prices from £3 to £12 or you can choose £0. A collection will be taken after the performance for anyone wishing to donate afterwards.

The price of the Ticket shall be the price set at the time we accept your order. All advertised prices are inclusive of any applicable taxes and per ticket booking fee (where applicable) but exclusive of any per transaction, collection, or delivery fee.

No order will be accepted until we have received full payment in cleared funds. We reserve the right to cancel any booking which we reasonably suspect to have been made fraudulently.

All concessions and discounts are subject to availability, they may be restricted to certain price levels and performances and can be withdrawn without notice.

Only one concession or discount is available per ticket.

The Customs House is committed to protecting your privacy. The information you provide will be handling in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, Privacy and Electronic Community Regulations 2003 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR)

Who are we?
The Customs House offers arts and entertainment for all, serving the residents of South Tyneside and beyond with a varied programme of live performance, cinema, visual arts and projects for children and young people.
The Customs House is an independent Charity Registered in England and Wales number 1032846, and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales number 2848282.
We aim to be clear when we collect your data and not do anything you wouldn’t reasonably expect. Developing a better understanding of our customers and supporters through their personal data allows us to make better decisions about shows and programming, fundraise more efficiently and ultimately, helps us to reach our goal of bringing entertainment and inspiration to South Tyneside and the North East by providing a diverse programme of the highest quality live events, art, cinema, and workshops.
This privacy policy sets out the ways in which we use your data and how you can hold us answerable for that.

What information do we collect?
You give us your information when you buy a ticket via our website, by phone or over the counter, by signing up for one of our other events, by updating your preferences on our website, by making a donation, or by communicating with us. We also keep your details when you sign up to receive emails from us. The information we hold about you may include:
• Name, title, date of birth and gender
• Information about race and ethnicity
• Contact information including postal address, email address and phone numbers
• Access requirements (for example if you require BSL interpretation or wheelchair access) and whether you have a disability
• Other background personal information relevant to particular projects that we are organising.

We maintain a record of your transaction history, but we never store your payment card number (although we keep a note of the last four digits to help us identify transactions). We keep a record of the emails we send you, and we may track whether you receive or open them so we can make sure we are sending you the most relevant information. We may then track any subsequent actions online, such as buying a ticket.

How do we collect data?
You provide us with your personal information to:
• Provide you with the show tickets or respond to information you have asked for
• Contact you if there are any important changes to your booking
• Administer your ticket sale or donation, including processing gift aid
• Keep a record of your relationship with us – such as Friend, Custodian
• Ensure we know how you prefer to be contacted

We occasionally undertake customer research to help:
• When you attend one of our shows
• When signing up for our electronic newsletter via our website
• When you sign up for an activity via our booking email address or via our booking telephone line

We maintain a record of emails we send you and may track whether you receive or open them.
When visiting our website we use ‘cookies’ to help make our website better. Cookies means that a website can remember you and your preferences. It also helps us understand how visitors to the website move through the site enabling us to make improvements. We also receive information from external sources which enables us to better understand our audiences (i.e. Audience Agency).

How Do We Use Your Data
If there is any important change to your booking we will contact you. This information, alongside your purchase and/or donation history, is used to select and inform you of other relevant events or activities we think may be of interest to you, as well as opportunities to support our work as an arts charity.

We also use the information we collect to:
• Keep and maintain internal records
• Improve our projects and activities
• Contact you with details of activities and projects you might be interested (if consented).

On occasion we may record film, photographs and audio for use on our website, social media accounts and other formats. When your images are being used in a prominent way we will obtain specific consent for this purpose, but not for group shots, background inclusion or internal use.

How long do we keep your personal data?
We store your personal information indefinitely. This enables us to ensure that you have a single unique record with our project. This information is used for historical, statistical or research purposes. Consent to hold the data can be withdrawn at any time. You have the right to request us to erase personal data.

Is my personal data safe?
We are committed to ensuring that the information you provide is safe and secure. We have appropriate physical and electronic systems and procedures in place to keep your personal data secure. We maintain a customer relationship management (CRM) system to hold contact details and a record of your involvement in our activities.

We ensure that everyone managing and handling your personal data understands good data protection procedures and is appropriate trained and supervised. Your data will only be accessed by people who need it to do their job.

Do you share my personal data?
We will not share any of your personal details with any other third parties without your agreement, unless required in order to fulfil our contract with you, or allowed by law. In general, the third-party providers used by us to fulfil our contract with you will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us. These providers include our Ticketing System provider, email distribution service and mailing house. We have agreements in place with each to ensure that your data is secure at all times, and cannot be accessed or used for any other purpose. We may disclose your details to a third party under the following circumstances:

• If we deliver an event in partnership with another named organisation so that they can help us run the event (in these instance we will ensure that these providers comply with our instructions and data protection laws)
• To service providers who process data on our behalf and on our instructions i.e. our external evaluators (in these instance we will ensure that these providers comply with our instructions and data protection laws)
• In order to comply with a legal obligation to do so.
• To funding bodies, including Arts Council England, this information is anonymised and does not identify you as an individual

When booking a ticket you may be given the choice to also hear from the artistic company you have booked to see. Under these circumstances and only with your consent we will pass your data to the relevant company and they will be in touch with you to communicate their own Privacy and Data Policy. Should you then wish not to hear from them, please get in touch with them direct.

How do I change my marketing preferences?
If you decide you no longer want to receive communications from us letting you know about upcoming activities and developments, you can contact us and change your preferences.

Changes to this policy
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information we will make this clear on our website or by contacting you directly.

What rights do I have?
Under the Data Protection Act you have the following rights:

• To obtain access to, and copies of, the personal data that we hold about you
• To ask that we cease processing your personal data if the processing is causing you damage or distress
• To ask that we do not to send you marketing communications
• Once the UK GDPR takes effect in 1st January 2021, you will also have the following additional rights:
• To ask us to correct the personal data we hold about you if it is incorrect
• To request a copy of personal information held about you
• To ask us to erase your personal data
• To ask us to restrict our data processing activities (and, where our processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent, without affecting the lawfulness of our processing based on consent before its withdrawal)
• To request us to stop processing your personal data
• To receive from us the personal data we hold about you which you have provided to us, in a reasonable format specified by you, including for the purpose of you transmitting that personal data to another data controller
• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office or
Fundraising Regulator

Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.

CONTACT US
Please contact us if you have any questions about your data promise, or wish to be removed from any communications or data processing activities:
• Email us on: [email protected]
• Or write to us at: Marketing Department, The Customs House, Mill Dam, South Shields. NE33 1ES

The Customs House reserves the right to change these general terms and conditions which are applicable to all retail offers and discounts at any time without prior notice by amending these online.

Offers and discounts are not transferable and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount. All offers and discounts are subject to availability, can be changed or withdrawn without notice, and may be available for a limited period only.

If you are unable to attend a performance/screening we can offer to exchange your tickets to another performance of the same show, within its current run, subject to availability and a per ticket exchange fee. Exchanges are not possible for single performances or screenings. To obtain an exchange, you must contact us at least 48 hours before the event. Tickets can be exchanged for a seat of the same value or higher upon payment of the difference in value. If a discount has been applied to the Ticket, then this will only be honoured within the original terms and conditions of the offer. If the Ticket have been booked through a third-party promoter, tickets cannot be exchanged, cancelled, or refunded after purchase unless the third party’s own terms and conditions allow for exchange, cancellation, or refunds.

Except where we offer an applicable ticket exchange or resale facility, tickets cannot be exchanged, cancelled, or refunded after purchase. Where a performance is cancelled or rescheduled by us or a visiting company, or where a performance is cancelled or rescheduled due to circumstances beyond our control, you may request a refund.

The refund for tickets equals the price paid by you to us for such ticket, excluding the per transaction collection or delivery fee. If You have opted to purchase Ticket Protection, please note that this is also non-refundable. Refunds shall only be made to the person who purchased the tickets and, when possible, be made using the same method as was used to purchase the tickets.

Tickets You purchase are for you and your party’s personal, non-commercial use and must not be resold for profit. You must not purchase and/or resell your tickets (i) with the intention of reselling your tickets for profit or (ii) on behalf of a business, or (iii) as a trader acting in the course of business. If we discover or have reason to suspect that you have purchased and intend to resell, or have sold tickets in breach of this clause, we reserve the right to cancel your tickets without notice and will refund You the price paid by you to us for such ticket, excluding the per transaction fee you paid for the tickets.

Where a resale facility is available, resale of these tickets cannot be guaranteed and is subject to a per ticket administrative charge.

Tickets may be restricted to a maximum number or sold subject to certain restrictions on entry or use, such as restricted, obstructed or side view or a minimum age for entry. Any such restriction shall be displayed on our website or otherwise notified to you before or at the time you book the tickets. It is your responsibility to ensure that you read all notifications displayed on our website.

The use of equipment for recording or transmitting (by digital or other means) any audio, visual or audio-visual material or any information or data inside the Venue is strictly forbidden. Unauthorised recording equipment, recordings, tapes, films, or similar items may be confiscated and destroyed or deleted. Any recording made of a performance in breach of these conditions shall belong to The Customs House.

By attending a performance, ticket holders consent to filming and sound recording of themselves as members of the audience. We may use such films and recordings (including any copies) for the purpose of marketing without payment.

Mobile telephones and messaging equipment must be switched off during a performance.
Alcohol may only be consumed in the bar or in the auditorium (in plastic glasses only).

The following are not permitted within any performance:
I) animals (with the exception of assistance animals);
2) laser pens, fireworks, flares, smoke bombs
3) any item which may be interpreted as a potential weapon including sharp or pointed objects (e.g., knives); and
4) illegal substances.

The management of The Customs House reserves the right to conduct security searches from time to time and confiscate any item which, in the reasonable opinion of the management team, may cause danger or disruption to other members of the audience.

Every effort shall be made to admit latecomers to performances at a suitable break, which may be the interval, but late admission cannot be guaranteed.

All tickets are sold subject to availability and to these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions should be read carefully prior to purchase and any queries relating to them should be raised prior to purchase.

Please notify us of any access requirements at the time of booking. Carer tickets can be provided free of charge upon the presentation of a valid CEA card. Removing any part of, altering, or defacing the Ticket may invalidate Your Ticket. It is Your responsibility to check Your Tickets as mistakes cannot always be rectified after purchase. We will not be responsible for any Ticket that is lost, stolen, or destroyed.

It is not always possible to issue duplicate tickets. For example, for non-seated events where there is a possibility of both the original and duplicate tickets being used, compromising the licensed capacity of the venue. Duplicates may therefore be issued at the discretion of The Customs House.

Where a concession is claimed, proof of identity and concession entitlement (for example of age or student status) may be required.

The trademarks, logos and service marks displayed on this site belong to the operators of this website and others. The owners of the marks on this site retain all rights in and to the marks. Nothing grants users the right to use, reproduce or display any of the marks.

Our contract for the purchase of Gift Vouchers is formed as soon as we have processed your payment and will expire within 12 months. They must be used within such time periods as they cannot be extended.

Users of this website agree as follows: To comply with instructions, guidelines, rules and notices pertaining to the use of this site as issued from time to time. Not to impersonate any person or entity, falsify or misrepresent any information. Not to post, promote or transmit any information on this site that would infringe the rights of a third party. Not to transmit, post or promote anything on this site that is libellous, defamatory, harmful, vulgar, obscene or objectionable material.

Users of this web site are not to: Disrupt or interfere with the security of the site or otherwise abuse any service provided on the site or linked web site. Disrupt, interfere or abuse any other user’s enjoyment of the site. Obtain unauthorised access to any part of the site that is restricted from public access.

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