London Entertainment Guide

London Entertainment Guide

London is a great city for entertainment; whether you’re watching the street performers in Covent Garden or attending one of the many West End shows on offer, there is always something on that caters for all ages and tastes.

London’s West End is known for its plethora of hit shows like Wicked, The 39 Steps and Grease. Show tickets can cost anywhere between £30 and £80 and can be bought online, at the venue or from one of the local ticket sales shops in and around the West End.

Covent Garden is another wonderful place to visit if you’re looking for entertainment as many different streets acts take to the cobbles each day. Acts can range from mesmerising magic tricks to death defying knife juggling, so expect a diverse mix of entertainment on offer.

Below is a list of London entertainment venues that you should visit when you’re in the capital:

West End Shows

Wicked

Magical musical Wicked is the story of two unlikely friends and how they end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, characters from L Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz.

Showing at: Apollo Victoria Theatre

Grease

Grease, the smash hit musical about high school love, returns to the West End to bring smiles to the faces of all wannabee T-Birds and Pink Ladies.

Showing at: Piccadilly Theatre

Avenue Q

Avenue Q is not the most upmarket of New York streets, and is about as far away from Park Avenue as you can get, but it is home to some lively and off the wall characters performed by an unholy comedic alliance of humans and puppets.

Showing at: Wyndham’s Theatre

The 39 Steps

This comedy stage adaptation of John Buchan’s 1935 novel The 39 Steps has been keeping audiences amused at the Criterion theatre since 2006 and won Best Comedy at the Laurence Olivier Awards 2007.

Showing at: Criterion Theatre

Other Places of Interest

The London Eye

Just across the river from the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye stands at a huge 135 metres tall, making it the largest Ferris wheel in Europe. The Eye offers fantastic views of The Mall, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and the SIS Building (the home of MI6).

Click here for more information on The London Eye

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is packed with street performers, restaurants and a number of up-market shops, making it the ideal place to visit if you can’t make up your mind on what you want to do.

Click here for more information on Covent Garden

Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds, named after wax sculptor Marie Tussaud, is a large wax museum and planetarium in London. It is the home of a number of wax celebrities like Michael Jackson, David Beckham and Elvis.

Click here for more information on Madame Tussauds

London Dungeon

The Gruesome London Dungeon, based in Tooley Street, is an exhibition detailing the macabre forms of torture used in the medieval age. Be prepared for a scare as live actors roam around the dungeon catacombs waiting for passers by.

Click here for more information on the London Dungeon

London Zoo

London Zoo, found at the northern edge of Regent’s Park, is the world’s oldest scientific zoo and a great place to take the kids on a day out in London.

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Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy of Arts is a privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.

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Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall is a 2900 seat concert hall located in the Southbank Centre on the River Thames. A number of music acts have graced the stage over the years, including Motorhead in 2007.

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Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall, located in Knightsbridge, is a famous arts venue that has hosted a number of musical events over the years. The most notable event to take place here is the annual summer proms that have been held here since 1941.

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Roundhouse

The Roundhouse, formerly a railway engine shed, is a renowned performing arts and concert venue in London. The Roundhouse recently hosted the BBC Electric Proms.

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Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. Named after Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, it was founded in 1852, and has since grown to accommodate 145 galleries.

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Shakespeare’s Globe

Officially opened in 1997, Shakespeare’s Globe is a reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre, used by Shakespeare for a number of his plays. The theatre was originally built in 1599 by Lord Chamberlain’s men, the playing company to whom Shakespeare belonged.

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Royal Opera House

Found at the heart of Covent Garden, the Royal Opera House is home to the Royal Opera, Royal Ballet and the Orchestra if the Royal Opera House. The Auditorium inside is a Grade 1 Listed Building.

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Westminster Hall

Westminster Hall, the oldest existing part of the Palace of Westminster, was erected in 1097, at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. It is now used as an exhibition hall and occasionally hosts a few concerts. The best way to see Westminster Hall is to take a tour of the Houses of Parliament.

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Laban College

Laban in Deptford, south-east London, is a conservatoire and centre for contemporary dance, and includes 13 dance studios, a 300-seat theatre, dance health suite, Pilates studio, library and café. It is part of Trinity Laban.

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre (generally known as the National Theatre and commonly as The National) in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company.

BFI Imax

The cinema is located in the centre of a roundabout on Waterloo Road. Stamford Street is to the north-east, York Road is to the south-west and Waterloo Bridge is to the north-west. The BFI Imax is the largest screen in Britain.

Vinopolis

Vinopolis is a London visitor attraction that presents the subject of wine and oenology through exhibits, including wine tasting. It is located at Bankside, to the east of Southwark Bridge and close to London Bridge on the south side of the River Thames.

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Banqueting House

The Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, is the grandest and best known survivor of the architectural genre of banqueting house, and the only remaining component of the Palace of Whitehall. The building is important in the history of English architecture as the first classical building to be completed in a style which was to transform English architecture.

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