Good news for Wigmore Hall: it has successfully managed to raise the £3.1m required to pay off the loan it took out back in 2005 to secure a 250-year lease on its beautiful building. A rent-free future beckons, although with three medium-size recital halls now in London - Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and Kings Place - one wonders what the future holds for these venues in an economic downturn. Much to Wigmore Hall's undoubted annoyance, rumours are still circulating about its antipathy to the recently opened Kings Place; rumours that are completely untrue, according to Wigmore Hall's artistic director John Gilhooly. The last time the Diary attended a concert at Wigmore, it spotted someone standing outside thrusting Kings Place brochures into the hands of departing patrons. Cheeky!