Hotels near Playhouse Theatre

Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5DE
Nearest Tube: Embankment / Charing Cross

Turn left out of Embankment Station and you'll find the Playhouse, a 786-seater Grade II-listed theatre nestling under Embankment Bridge.

This is a vibrant but sometimes over-looked part of town; Villiers Street, often alive with buskers, leads up to the Strand and has a number of lovely restaurants as well Gordon's Wine Bar, a subterranean candlelit cellar with sherries and ports poured straight from the cask and an otherworldly alcoholic atmosphere - it first opened in 1890, and has basically never changed.

Embankment Bridge leads to the South Bank and has gorgeous views of the riverside, and the New Players Theatre Bar - hidden under the arches halfway up Villiers Street opposite London's biggest and brashest gay club, Heaven - is the after-hours schmoozing hangout of choice for most West End casts, with live piano cabaret every night and a raucously 'daahling'-soaked atmosphere.

The Playhouse came to town in 1882 as the Royal Avenue Theatre and was the site of George Bernard Shaw's breakthrough hit Arms and the Man; the BBC owned the theatre for 26 years for live recordings, and this must be the only stage in the world shared by The Beatles and Steptoe and Son.

After the BBC left in 1976 the theatre went dark for eleven years and had a close brush with demolition - Jeffrey Archer and Ray Cooney had brief periods of ownership in the meantime, and the Playhouse is now back on its feet with La Cage Aux Folles, Jerry Herman's deliciously funny musical starring Graham Norton, currently booking until September.

Our most popular tried and tested 3 star hotel in the West End of London. The St Giles is only a short walk away from the Playhouse Theatre

The Strand Palace is only a very few minutes easy stroll to Covent Garden, the London Eye and Drury Lane. The hotel is located on the Strand in the West End and is close to many theatres, restaurants and bars. To its north lies Holborn and Russell Square, an area that is home to the British Museum, whilst to the east lies Tottenham Court Road, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.