Visitors flock to London’s famous theaters, but few take advantage of the capital’s pub theaters. And yet this form of entertainment is one of the most exciting types of live theater available in the UK today.
Most of London’s pubs are hundreds of years old. The buildings once had breweries on the top floor or had a large number of rooms to rent to travelers. As those uses began to disappear, especially during the 20th century, bar owners looked for new ways to make money from their large amounts of unused space. Since pubs and theater have always been closely associated in London, creating small, intimate theater and cabaret spaces seemed natural.
How it all began
The modern pub theater is a relatively new phenomenon, but it has a very old pedigree. The theaters in the inn’s courtyard, common in Shakespeare’s time but much older, were the first enclosed performance spaces.
Since the early Middle Ages, actors and musicians traveled across the country in groups, placing the forerunners of pubs in inns and traveler’s taverns when they stopped to perform. If an inn owner allowed them to put on shows in their coach’s yard, they could charge attendees to enter the yard. You could charge the public even more to go up to the covered balconies or galleries, a common feature of a pub during the 18th century. (Take a look at the National Trust-owned George Inn in Southwark. Built in 1677, it’s London’s last self-catering pub.) And, of course, it could sell food and beer.
In Elizabethan times, the first theaters built specifically on the enclosed courtyard model and with galleries, such as Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, were being built, and the tavern theater soon became extinct.
London Pub Theaters Today
Westminster Walking Guide and London blogger Joanna Moncrieff says King’s Head in Islington, founded in 1970, is probably the first pub theater since Shakespeare’s time. It set the pattern for today’s typical London pub pub in an upper room, or occasionally below the pub. The seating areas are small, often with fewer than 60 people, and the space between the audience and the actors is miniscule. If the idea of an actor playing with his heart while staring at your face from a distance of about four feet is more than you can handle, pub theater may not be for you.
But if you enjoy the opportunity to see new or rarely performed plays, with actors whose talents may still be a bit raw, in spaces often no larger than some people’s living rooms, this is a type of London theater that doesn’t. must be lost. And you might even have a close encounter with a familiar face or star. Pub theater audiences are filled with actors, theater students, theatergoers, directors, and casting agents looking for new drama and acting talent.
How to see a play in a pub
- Take a look at what’s in pub theaters by choosing a magazine like Time Out . Don’t bother looking for the magazine online – you must see the print version of the full listings. It’s free and available at tube stations in zones 1 and 2 on Tuesday mornings or at dozens of locations across London. You will likely find it at your hotel or check Time Out’s online list of outlets for the print magazine.
- There’s usually some sort of capsule description or review, but pub theater tickets are generally under £ 20, making it easy – and more fun – to take a chance.
- You may want to reserve your tickets in advance to pick up before the show. If you can, it is a good idea to get your tickets in advance for the most popular shows. Otherwise, just show up on time in the evening and get in line to buy a ticket.
- Prepare to travel beyond the normal theater district familiar to tourists. There are only a few pub theaters in central London. Finborough, Kings Head, and Old Red Lion are among them. (See list below). Most of the others are a bit out of the center and may involve a bus trip.
- Due to licensing laws in the UK, some smaller theater pubs function as clubs. You have to join them to see a play. You can usually join that kind of pub theater for a few pounds when you buy your ticket.
- The pub theater is not a dinner theater, although some pubs that have theaters also serve food. If you want to eat, arrive early enough to eat at the pub before the play begins. The work itself will not be in the pub but in a room above or in a basement below.
- Order your interval (intermission) drinks before going to the theater if you can because the crush at the bar will be intense later on.
- When the play is about to begin, and when the interval is about to end, the pub owner will ring a bell in the pub, giving you a warning of approximately five minutes to reach your seat.
List of London pub theaters
You can never know, far in advance, what might be scheduled in London’s pub theaters. To get started, take a look at these links to some of the most popular in London.
- Above Lord Stanley Pub This is a small venue (30 seats) above a Camden Town pub that is protected from development by the Community Value Asset designation. It has sporadic performances: comedy nights, music. Visit the pub’s website or call (0207 284 3266) to see if anything happens in the theater space above the pub.
- Above the Stag This is the UK’s only professional LGBT + theater and is an award-winning theater. You are now in the Vauxhall area. Pre-show meals are served in the bar.
- The Barons Court Theater in the Curtains Up pub. This 60-seat venue in the vaults below the pub features a mix of around 70% classics: Bernarda Alba’s House, The Good Person from Szechuan , and 30% Work new. The bar serves food for a pre-theater meal.
- The Canal Café Theater is a comedy venue above the Bridge Pub in Little Venice. On the edge of the Regents Canal, they have been hosting little-known comedy reviews and revivals since 1979. It’s home to New Review, a show that holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest comedy review. It’s on after the other performances, late at night, 4 days a week, 50 weeks a year.
- The Drayton Arms Theater One of London’s newest pub theaters, this space above the Drayton Arms pub in South Kensington only became a professional fringe theater in 2011. Before that, it had been a rehearsal space for the BBC and a rehearsal and performance space for student actors at the nearby Webber Douglas Academy.
- The Etcetera above Oxford Arms in Camden High Street. The Guardian calls this one of the best pub theaters in London. He is a founding member of Camden Fringe and hosts the London Horror Festival. Watch out for the Black Box Festival, a three-week event each year where visiting companies are offered the stage free of charge, in exchange for a split at the box office. It’s an opportunity to see fresh new ideas on stage, some great, some terrible.
- Small but mighty Finborough, this theater above a pub not far from Earl’s Court station, emphasizes “thought-provoking new writing based on texts, as well as… really neglected plays from the 19th and 20th centuries. The theater has been more of a constant in this area than the pub below it, but now under independent management the pub is on the rise and is a great place to sample local craft beers.
- The Gate Theater Notting Hill Another of London’s earliest pub theaters, the emphasis is on international work and ‘neglected international classics’. It is a 75 seater that regularly punches above its weight. Not to be confused with Gate Cinema, an art movie theater, also in Notting Hill.
- The Hen & Chickens Comedy and theater in a Victorian pub in Highbury on the north end of Islington. This theater pub is run as a proper theater club. If you want to know what is happening, you have to join, call them on 020 7354 8246 or follow them on Facebook.
- The King’s Head There has been a pub here since 1547 and a theater since 1970. These days the focus is on new writing and ‘critical theatrical revivals’. There is also a calendar of musical productions and chamber opera. The theater operates an award-winning director-intern program and many of its graduates have had considerable success.
- The Landor At 60 seats above a Clapham pub in South London, this theater focuses on musical productions in an intimate setting.
- The Latchmere / Theater 503 formerly The Gate at The Latchmere in Battersea. As one of London’s original pub theater groups, this venue has produced new writing for over 30 years. Twice a year, his Second Look program revives an innovative but overlooked work since the 1980s or 1990s.
- The Old Red Lion Around for 30 years and one of London’s most respected pub theaters, this Islington pub near Angel Tube Station has been transferred to London’s West End and Off-Broadway.
- Pentameters – Above the Horseshoe pub in Hampstead Village. Since 1968, this respected theater has presented hundreds of plays and featured many of London’s leading theater stars. It is a cross between a pub pub and a production company. This 60-seat theater is still run by its founding artistic director, Léonie Scott-Matthews.
- The Rosemary Branch On the border of Hackney and Islington, this was once a Victorian music room, with artists like Charlie Chaplin and Marie Lloyd stepping on the boards. Currently managed by a transatlantic team, it presents an eclectic mix of music and theater, fostering ’emerging’ talent.
- The Tabard Popular with West London audiences, the Tabard has been a small but important fixture on London’s fringe scene for over 30 years. Today it features a mix of live entertainment: revivals, adaptations, music, and comedy.
- Upstairs in the Gatehouse in Highgate Village. This is a very old and quaint pub. Its first mention in the records is in 1670, but its 19th century owners claimed that it had been a pub since 1337. Its auditorium dates from 1895 and has served as a music hall, a jazz club, a folk club (once was the host of Simon and Garfunkel). It is Camden’s northernmost pub and the highest theater in London, at 446 feet above sea level. With 140 seats, this is larger than many fringe or pub theaters and their productions tend to be more commercial, focusing on musical theater. His Avenue Q production was awarded Best Off West End Production at the Mousetrap Awards in 2014.
- The White Bear Theater Club Focusing on new writings and ‘lost classics’, this South London theater and pub reopened in October 2016 with a new purpose-built theater and a new bar serving food and drink before and after the theater. .
More fringe theaters
Not all independent theaters in London are in pubs. Some fill converted warehouses, rooms above coffee shops, and others weird. Some, like The Almeida, The Donmar Warehouse, and Young Vic show stars alongside new writing and talents. Others are more experimental and potentially more exciting:
- Arcola Theater
- Battersea Arts Center
- The Bush
- Camden People Theater
- The courtyard theater
- The Hampstead Theater
- Jermyn Street
- The Lyric Hammersmith
- Menier chocolate factory
- The orange tree
- The oval house
- Pleasure
- The Coronet theater
- Soho theater
- Southwark Playhouse
- Royal Stratford East Theater
- The Kiln Theater, formerly The Tricycle
- The union theater
