"As manager of Drury Lane (1802-1815) Bannister was no less successful.In February 1809 he was one of the group including Michael Kelly, Richard Sheridan and William Dowton who met with Richard Wroughton (stage-manager) on the day after the fire which destroyed the theatre, and under Sheridan's exhortation agreed to keep the company together so far as possible during their subsequent removal to the Lyceum in the Strand.