THE new owners of the North-East’s biggest theatre last night pledged to continue to bring West End shows to the region to build on the venue’s growing national reputation.

Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), the new owner of Sunderland Empire, said it would focus on bringing “much more choice and high quality” to the venue, which has previously brought We Will Rock You and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the region, and is the only North- East venue capable of staging West End productions.

And the group, which has also bought the Grand Opera House, in York, through its £90m purchase of Live Nation’s 16 UK theatres, gave assurances there would be no cutbacks or redundancies through the acquisition.

ATG is now the biggest theatre group in the UK, with a business worth £150m, and has grown from having two venues in 1992 to a portfolio of 39 after yesterday’s acquisition.

Former BBC boss Greg Dyke, the Chancellor of York University, was yesterday revealed as ATG’s executive chairman.

Rosemary Squire, joint chief executive of ATG, said the merged group’s focus is now on growth.

She told The Northern Echo: “We have absolutely no plans to cut jobs or cut back in either Sunderland or York or anywhere else.

“This is about two companies coming together with the aim of growing the group.

“We are very excited about the opportunities this acquisition has brought, and Sunderland will be our largest regional theatre. Until now, we haven’t had the scope outside of London for that range of productions, but now we will be looking at large-scale entertainment opportunities to continue the kinds of productions that have recently come to Sunderland. We will be looking at much more choice and high quality.”

ATG, which began life in Woking, now stages productions around the world and owns several theatres in London.

It has a reputation for staging major productions, including West Side Story and Sunset Boulevard in the West End, and Exit The King, starring Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon, on Broadway.

The former Live Nation group is currently staging two of London’s most successful shows, The Lion King at The Lyceum, and Wicked at the Apollo Victoria.