A Night out in London offers more than theatre, pubs, and clubs, but an all inclusive list would take a night out just to read it all. Here you’ll get a feel for the Clubs, Pubs, and theatre available in greater London. Other forms of entertainment are plentiful but we’ll stick to clubs, pubs, and dining, and theatre for now.
When it comes to live music, theatre, pubs and clubs, London compares favourably with any city in the world. Whatever your goal for a night out, you can find the perfect venue to achieve it in London. London’s theatre rivals Broadway and some current popular shows include The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, and Spamalot.
Other theatrical productions include a show by The Blue Man Group at the New London Theatre. Reviews of this show include one from the Chicago Tribune, “So much fun it must be experienced to be believed”. Another said, “The Blue Man Group ran around on the stage last night for several hours. No one knows why”. OK… I wrote the second one! For reasons passing understanding The Blue Man Group packs in the crowds, and with the exception of my panning, consistently receive rave reviews. Blue people I find more entertaining are The Smurfs, and the fat kid from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, although he may have been more of a purple.
If you like clubs and can do without dining there are numerous clubs for nearly every musical genre. If you’re a hip-hop fan, Vibe Bar, or Plan B may suit you. Indie Pop fans will like Club Silver at Underworld. Retropop is available at Pump up the Volume at Underworld. Jazz fans will enjoy Ronnie Scott’s, House Music, Techno, Jazz, Swing, and Funk music can all be found along with virtually any other type of music at clubs in London.
Themes or Club Nights are popular in London Clubs, and descriptions can be found online, on the U.K. Clubbing Directory for the hundreds of different themes available in the city on a given night. A good example of a club night is the Notting Hill Arts Club whose club nights include Beachclub, billed as “A Smorgasbord of London Creativity & drunken Scandinavian snow urchins” with cheap beer, mulled wine, pretty ladies, great bands, DJs, art, and meatballs every second Monday of the Month. Other club nights include Disco Death, and Craft Night.
If you’re not into the club scene, but still like a drink or two, London has some 5,000 pubs and bars. If you want to go to the coolest bar in London, try Below Zero and the Absolut Ice Bar London. Of course Absolut Vodka is best served on ice. This place takes it a little farther as the glasses, bar, chairs, walls, ceiling are all made from clear ice from the Torne River in Sweden. The entire place is kept at -5 degrees to keep it from melting. It doesn’t say which scale that temperature is measured in, but it couldn’t make the least bit of difference as it is freezing. Your admission entitles you to the use of a reindeer cape and mittens, forty-five minutes at the bar, and an Absolut drink. The menu is traditional Swedish fare featuring seafood like halibut, prawns, and mussels. If you are looking for the polar opposite of this mega igloo, try Bar Aquarium. The club with a swimming pool.
A traditional English Pub is what visitors look for on their trips to London, but why not visit one with a little history. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese may be London’s oldest Pub… and then again it may not be. Some London Pubs are partial survivors of the last “Great Fire”, and it’s not clear when some were built. This pub; built in 1667 after “The Great Fire II” replaced another pub, but has the original cellar dating back to the 13th century. The Anchor survived the fire, but burned down 10 years later and was rebuilt. The Old Bell Tavern and Ye Olde Waiting are said to have been built to provide masons, and labourers working on St. Paul’s Cathedral during its construction a nearby watering hole.
Many London Pubs are historic for the deeds of their patrons, or were the “scene of the crime” in some cases. Having famous patrons seems to make a pub famous. Places like The Dove in Hammersmith which served literary legends Graham Greene and Ernest Hemmingway. It was a rarity that Ernest Hemmingway passed by a pub without stopping so this claim is far from unusual. The French House was the unofficial headquarters for the French Resistance in WWII and counted Dylan Thomas among its regulars. It is also thought to be the spot where James Thomson wrote “Rule Britannia”.
Some pubs are famous for their famous patrons, and some for their infamous patrons. Magdala is where David Blakely was murdered by Ruth Ellis in 1955. Ellis was the last woman to be executed in Britain. The Blind Beggar was the scene of a fatal shooting in 1967 when Ronnie Kray killed George Cornell after upsetting the Kray twins. There is no shortage of pubs in London that have an historic claim to fame, but with notoriety comes popularity and the good ones get crowded.
If you don’t enjoy pubs or clubs and only want good food you should re-examine your priorities, and after that, there are about 6,000 restaurants in and around London if you don’t have a change of heart about pubs. Start with one of the many Gastro Pubs in case you come to your senses. If not, you can get a great meal at some upscale restaurants in London, and you may spot some celebrities. The Ivy, Yauatcha, Nobu Berkeley, and Sketch are eateries where celebrity sightings are possible, and they have excellent food.
Like the famous Mark Twain quote “I wouldn’t join any club that would have me as a member”, the really good restaurants are the ones you can’t get into, unless you enjoy sitting down to dinner at midnight on a Tuesday. Gordon Ramsay’s at Claridge’s recently completed some renovations. Good luck getting inside to see them. It is the only restaurant in London to achieve three of the coveted Michelin stars, and is considered by some to be one of the top five restaurants in the world. Other London restaurants with Michelin stars are, The Greenhouse, Hakkasan, and Locanda Locatelli.
With a population as diverse as London’s, it’s no surprise that ethnic restaurants saturate the lengthy menu of London dining establishments. British, Caribbean, Mexican, Chinese, and Lebanese restaurants are just a few of the ethnic themed eateries in greater London. Whether your night out in London will have you eating, drinking, or seeing a show, you should have an easy time finding the perfect spot for you.