The Keith Prowse company originated from a partnership in 1830 between two musical instrument makers who opened a shop selling their goods. It later became a theatre ticket agency and music publisher; after a merger with the Peter Maurice company it became KPM and was acquired by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in 1969. Keith Prowse remains as a trading name used by two separate companies. Within the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

it is used by the Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Division of

Compass Group Plc Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including off ...

(who provide catering facilities). The company operates at numerous venues for major sporting and cultural events including

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the ''Great Spring Show'',Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and

test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

History

Robert William Keith (1767–1846), a musical composer, instrument maker and organist at the New Jerusalem Church, Friars Street, London, opened a shop in London in the late 18th century. In 1830 he entered a partnership with another musical instrument manufacturer and music publisher, William Prowse (1801–1886), to form Keith, Prowse & Co. The company entered the theatre ticketing business after acquiring "Theater Ticket Messengers" a company which used young message boys to go to theatres and either hold seats or collect seat tokens for favoured clients. The first reference to the firm's selling theatre tickets appeared in an article published in 1786 in the ''

Morning Chronicle ''The Morning Chronicle'' was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London. It was notable for having been the first steady employer of essayist William Hazlitt as a political reporter and the first steady employer of Charles Dickens as a journalist. It ...

'', referring to "The New System of Ticket Agents". One of the first ticketing companies to have a telephone installed, Keith Prowse appeared in the first UK telephone directory published in 1880. In 1886, the company first represented

Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and ...

, opened the World's first flight ticket booking office at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

near

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, in 1911 and soon opened another at London Aerodrome. In 1924, they first represented the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

. In 1954,

Peter Cadbury Peter Egbert Cadbury (6 February 1918 – 17 April 2006) was a British entrepreneur. Early life and education Cadbury was born at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, the son of Sir Egbert Cadbury and his wife, Mary Forbes, the daughter of Rev. Forbes Ph ...

borrowed £7.5 million from his father to buy the Keith Prowse ticket agency, which went public in 1960, and later became a subsidiary of

Westward Television Westward Television was the first ITV franchise-holder for the South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a popular, distinctive and highly regar ...

. In 1955, to focus the business on the ticket agency, Keith Prowse Music Publishing was spun off and sold to the holders of the original London weekdays commercial television franchise,

Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...

. In 1959, Associated-Rediffusion purchased the successful Peter Maurice publishing company and merged it with Keith Prowse Music Publishing to form KPM – Keith-Prowse-Maurice (often referred to incorrectly as “Keith Prowse Music”).KPM Music - The Story
APM Music. Retrieved 2014-06-28 In 1969,

bought Keith-Prowse-Maurice and Central Songs. KPM Music Recorded Library released many recordings of

library music Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries. Background ...

by composers such as

Alan Hawkshaw William Alan Hawkshaw (27 March 1937 – 16 October 2021) was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for movies and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company ...

. Today, KPM is owned by

Sony Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

which acquired EMI Music Publishing in 2012. In 1981, the Keith Prowse agency opened its first office outside the UK in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and a further office was established in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1982. In the same year, the company was officially appointed by the

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London, England, is a Gentlemen's club, private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon ...

through its purchase of Ashton & Mitchell which held royal appointment and rights to Wimbledon tennis.

Administration, internal and external sale

The company saw a period of external administration in 1991 with debts of £7m ($12m), prompting its purchase by Wembley plc (former owner of

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

) which in March 2002 sold Keith Prowse Ltd to the company's management for £5.5m ($7.8m/EUR8.9m). In 2004 the business split: *

acquired the Keith Prowse corporate hospitality business sectors for £20m. *The remaining business of selling tickets to theatres, tours and attractions became operated by Keith Prowse Travel

References

External links

Keith Prowse Hospitality web site

Management buy out (Guardian.co.uk)
{{Authority control 1780s establishments in Great Britain Defunct companies based in London Hotel and leisure companies of the United Kingdom Travel and holiday companies of the United Kingdom