G Live, Guildford

G Live is Guildford's main arts and entertainment venue, sitting on London Road at the top of the High Street in the Surrey town centre. Owned by Guildford Borough Council and run by Trafalgar Entertainment, it opened in 2011 on the site of the old Guildford Civic Hall, with a flexible Main Hall seating up to 1,031 and the smaller Bellerby Studio downstairs. The programme mixes touring music and tribute acts, stand-up comedy, family shows, spoken word evenings and classical concerts, including the Guildford International Concert Series. Inside there is a foyer cafe bar, two bars at stalls level and hireable conference spaces.

The site has been Guildford's main entertainment address for decades. It was originally home to the Guildford Civic Hall, which closed in January 2004 to make way for a new live entertainment and conference building. The replacement, designed by architects Austin-Smith:Lord, reused around 80 per cent of the structural material from its predecessor and cost £26m to deliver.

The new venue took its name, G Live, from a suggestion by members of the local public. It opened on 14 September 2011 with a concert by the London Symphony Orchestra, and 162 shows followed in that first year. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, performed the official opening on 8 February 2012.

Recognition arrived quickly. On the building's first birthday its design won a regional Downland Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects, with judges describing it as an anchor for Guildford High Street and a space suited to everything from ice shows to banqueting. In 2015 it took the Leisure and Lifestyle prize at the Experience Guildford Customer Service Awards, and in 2023 it was voted Best Live Music venue at the Surrey Rocks Awards.

G Live was run by HQ Theatres until March 2021, when Trafalgar Entertainment acquired HQ's theatre operations, and it remains in Guildford Borough Council ownership. During the COVID-19 pandemic the building was pressed into service as a vaccination centre, the second council-owned venue in the borough to support the response alongside Guildford Spectrum. Since 2011 it has hosted touring productions, major comedians and the annual Guildford International Concert Series.

G Live aims to be a welcoming and accessible venue, and all areas of the building, front of house and backstage, including The Glass Room and the seminar rooms, are wheelchair accessible.

• Getting in: wheelchair access is available from the main entrance on London Road and from the side entrance off the car park. The main entrance has automatic doors and leads into a foyer that is all on one level, with ticketing directly ahead.
• Lift and steps: there are 21 steps down from the foyer to the stalls and the Bellerby Studio, or you can use the customer lift in the foyer. The circle auditorium entrance and the cafe bar seating are on the same level as ticketing.
• Wheelchair spaces: twelve in the stalls and six in the circle, eighteen in total. Accessible seats show as reserved online, so please contact the venue directly to book. Wheelchairs can be provided for patrons who wish to transfer to an auditorium seat, if requested when booking. The Bellerby Studio has no fixed number of spaces because the layout changes, so please ask when booking.
• Personal assistants: a complimentary personal assistant ticket is offered for all shows and workshops for patrons with access requirements, subject to availability and possible verification. Book by phone or in person.
• Toilets: wheelchair-accessible lavatories are available on all levels, including the stalls and lower foyer level. Look for signage or ask a member of staff.
• Bars and service points: both stalls-level bars are reachable by wheelchair from the stalls entrance or by lift from the foyer, and all service points, including the ticket counter, have a lowered section.
• Hearing support: the Main Hall and the Bellerby Studio both use a Sennheiser infra-red system, with eight headsets available from the cloakroom. Please mention this when booking. There is a counter-induction loop at the box office and four portable units for the private meeting rooms.
• Assistance dogs: welcome throughout. Let the venue know when booking and a complimentary adjacent seat will be reserved for your dog in the Main Hall or Bellerby Studio.

Visual stories are available to help you familiarise yourself with the building before you arrive. For access enquiries, email GLiveAccess@glive.co.uk. Staff training has covered dementia awareness, British Sign Language, visual impairment and mental health awareness, and the venue works with Attitude is Everything and Ramps On The Moon, whose 'Theatre For Everyone' training all staff have completed.