Where to have a drink before a Shaftesbury Avenue show
Four Soho doors worth your pre-curtain drink: a walk-in cocktail bar, a beer hall, an all-day Italian and a Dean Street wine pub.
By Only Soho Editorial
Shaftesbury Avenue runs along the southern edge of Soho, and its theatres (the Lyric, Apollo, Gielgud and the Sondheim, which was once the Queen's) sit within a short stroll of some of the best drinking in the neighbourhood. The trick is choosing the right door for the time you have. Here are four, each with what to order and the hour to go.
Swift, 12 Old Compton Street
The one to pick when you have not made a plan. Hot Dinners notes that upstairs is walk-in only, which makes it a sound bar for anyone without a booking, and it still calls the original Soho site the best of the group. Downstairs is a reservations-only bar, so if you want a guaranteed seat before curtain, book that room. CAMRA describes the same split: a walk-in cocktail bar upstairs, a booked bar below.
It was made by two cocktail couples, Edmund Weil and Rosie Stimpson of Nightjar, and Mia Johansson and Bobby Hiddleston of Milk & Honey, according to The Three Drinkers. The ground floor is casual and lively, the basement more of a lounge. One older write-up points to martinis and oysters upstairs, so that is the order: a martini, and something from the sea if you are hungry.
Go: as early as you can, since walk-in seats upstairs are first come. Check the opening time on the bar's own site before you set out.
Albert's Schloss, 20 to 24 Shaftesbury Avenue
This is the one on the avenue itself, and it pitches itself for pre-theatre and post-show visits. Time Out describes a two-storey, 600-cover beer hall and cook haus on the former Rainforest Café site. The Infatuation calls it a Bavarian-meets-Alpine beer hall and rates it 7.4.
It is a room for a big group and a big table rather than a quiet conversation. Order a beer, and look at the fire pits and twinkling lights if you are in the mood for a bit of theatre before the theatre.
Go: early evening, and check the booking policy on its own page before you commit a group.
Bar Termini, 7 Old Compton Street
Styled after 1950s Italy and created by Tony Conigliaro of 69 Colebrooke Row with Marco Arrigo of Illy. Its booking page says it is open all day, with Italian coffee, aperitifs, digestifs, small plates and salumi, and prices it at two pound signs. That makes it the easy pick when your timing is awkward: a coffee at five, an aperitivo at six.
Order: an aperitivo and a plate of salumi, standing or perched at the bar. See the booking page for details.
The French House, 49 Dean Street
Time Out's guide to Soho pubs names it the best place for a decent glass of wine, and Hot Dinners includes it in its Soho guide. It is the old-school choice: a small room, a crowd at the door and no fuss.
Order: a glass of wine, as Time Out suggests. Arrive early, because the room fills quickly and standing is the norm.
How long you need
Treat this as a rule of thumb rather than a promise. Evening curtains in the West End are commonly half past seven, but check your own ticket. Allow roughly three quarters of an hour to an hour for one drink, plus a few minutes to walk to your theatre. If you are heading for a booked downstairs bar or a table in a large hall, give yourself longer, and leave the last ten minutes for the theatre doors.
- No plan, short on time: Swift upstairs, walk-in.
- Big group: Albert's Schloss, on the avenue.
- Early or awkward timing: Bar Termini, all day.
- Quiet glass of wine: The French House, early.
