Caberat - London

poppin_2

Hi,
I am wanting to take the girlfriend down to London to see Cabaret and not sure where to stay to be honest, the dates I was thinking of staying over were the thurs 27th dec and the 28th. I believe the show is performed at a place called the Lyrics theatre, got that from the Tickmaster website where I was looking for tickets. Anyone know the area at all as am thinking of maybe staying for two nights and wondering what else is in the area.

Never been to London before so help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

ali1972

The Lyric Theatre is on Shaftebury Avenue which is right in the heart of Theatreland. The nearest underground stations are Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, with Tottenham Court Rd not at all far away. The nearest overground station is Charing Cross which serves stations in South East London such as Waterloo, London Bridge, Greenwich etc.

Shaftesbury Avenue is just at the end of Regents St which means you are close to all the West End shops which are largely centred around Regent St, Oxford St, Tottenham Court Rd and Bond St. Nearby galleries include The National Gallery and The National Portrait Gallery (both reached by exiting the bottom of Leicester Square and heading to Trafalgar Square) and you can easily walk along the river from Charing Cross to The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Buckingham Palace is also easy walking distance. You can also hop on a Number 15 bus from outside St Martin in the Fields Church (at Trafalgar Square) and go towards St Pauls and maybe onto The Tower of London. If you walk over the footbridge from Charing Cross you can easily reach The London Eye and other attractions on the Southbank. If you go down Long Acre (across from the top end of Leicester Square) and turn right about halfway down you get to Covent Garden. Lots of nice shops and street entertainment there.

So basically, The Lyric Theatre is very well placed!

Get a travelcard or an oystercard to get the most out of public transport. Any station will advise you on this. It's much cheaper. You can then use public transport to go to places like South Kensington (Natural History Museum, V and A, Science Museum) or indeed wherever you fancy.

Whenever I'm eating in the Shaftebury Ave area I tend to head into Soho. There are lots of nice restaurants which aren't too expensive, especially if you head down the less busy streets. I particularly think Bistro 1 (there are 2 branches in the area - on Frith St and Beak St) do a very nice inexpensive menu for 2 or 3 courses (£10.90 for 3 courses) and have very reasonably priced house wines (for London!):

www.bistro1.co.uk

Otherwise you can get chinese food in Chinatown (not suprisingly) which is right on the doorstep of Shaftesbury Ave.

There are a few Thistle hotels (I think they're Thistle) in the area (one on Leicester Square and one at Charing Cross) but you should definitely look further afield as transport really isn't a problem. There are lots of hotels in the Paddington area, Earls Court etc and indeed out towards Greenwich which is only about 20 mins on the overground train from Charing Cross.

Hope that helps.

poppin_2

Thanks for that great response ali1972, been a little cheeky now but have you stayed in any of the hotels in the area? I have been reading reviews but would be good to hear of your experiences as you seem to know the area particularly well.

Once again thanks.

ali1972

poppin wrote: »

Thanks for that great response ali1972, been a little cheeky now but have you stayed in any of the hotels in the area? I have been reading reviews but would be good to hear of your experiences as you seem to know the area particularly well.

Once again thanks.

Ahh now - I actually live in London and work in Central London so although I know the area off the back of my hand I don't generally know the hotels from a customer point of view. Have you tried looking up the hotels on Tripadvisor? Sorry not to be able to give a greater insight.

davetrousers

seetickets don't charge commission (I think!) on theatre tickets. Don't buy tickets in Leicester Square from 'Half Price' places, The TKTS booth (google it) is where you want to look for cheap tickets but selcetion isn't fantastic.

try travelodge for cheap(er) simple hotels

unsure

I certainly wouldn't buy theatre tickets from ticketmaster as their markup and fees will increase the price you need to pay. I had to buy some theatre tickets recently for my daughter's birthday treat, the cheapest offer was direct from the theatre. The woman at the ticket office said they were always cheaper than the agencies.you can book direct with the theatre on
http://www.mamma-mia.com/london/london_booking.asp tickets from £20 upwards. www.theatremonkey.com will tell you which seats are best at the price you want to pay.
If you need to be sure of tickets and can't risk the booth in Leicester sq on the day you might also consider www.getintolondontheatre.com which offers discounts on some shows. "Mama Mia" tickets are currently in the £35 price band. The website also includes advice on travel and restaurants.

You might also want to check hotel/theatre and or travel packages which can work out very good value. Try www.superbreak.com for starters.

poppin_2

I am not sure whether im just been stupid or not but when I try and search for the postcode so I can hunt for a reasonibly close hotel I find different addresses for the place. Is this the correct place and address?

http://www.lyric.co.uk/

Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King Street, London, W6 0QL

Again complete novice and just getting a little panicked cos of the ever decreasing time before christmas which I have to get this sorted.

Thanks yet again for all your help.

alanrowell

poppin wrote: »

I am not sure whether im just been stupid or not but when I try and search for the postcode so I can hunt for a reasonibly close hotel I find different addresses for the place. Is this the correct place and address?

http://www.lyric.co.uk/

Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King Street, London, W6 0QL

Again complete novice and just getting a little panicked cos of the ever decreasing time before christmas which I have to get this sorted.

Thanks yet again for all your help.

No that's several miles from the one you want which is on Shaftesbury Avenue - www.nimaxtheatres.com/lyric.asp

unsure

Sorry Poppin,
I had a complete brainstorm (must be the cold bugs eating my brain) and thought you wanted to see Mama Mia!!! The good news is that Cabaret tickets seem cheaper. On www.getintolondontheatre.com they are £25 and direct from www.cabaret-the-musical.co.uk they are from £20.
Cheapest combined hotel and tickets from Superbreak are about £80 per person....you might do better shopping around for a hotel and buying the theatre tickets separately. Some railway companies also do 2 for 1 London theatre tickets if you travel by train (One railway, my local, does this and includes cabaret claiming a saving of up to £58 on top proice tickets). To be honest, taking a car into London is an expensive pain unless you are really going to need it: congestion charge and difficult and expensive parking aren't much fun and the traffic can be awful, plus you need to know your way around.
Covent Garden travel lodge (walkable to theatre ) currently has doubles for £105 for your dates...but I think you could beat that with a bit of searching.