Where to Eat, Drink and Stay Near the Kit Kat Club

You want to be inside the theatre by about 6:30pm for a 7:30pm performance, which is earlier than a pre-theatre dinner usually assumes. The set menus round Trafalgar Square stop serving at six or half past, so the kitchen closes at roughly the moment you should be walking through the door.

Two evenings work here. Sit down at five or half past and eat before, or eat afterwards: the show is out at around 10:15pm and several kitchens within five minutes are still going.

There are also three bars inside the theatre, and you are meant to be in there early. The pubs below are for a quick one on the way in, not for filling the hour.

Eat

  • Boyd's Grill & Wine Bar, 8 Northumberland Avenue. Two minutes, on the same street as the theatre. Marble, copper and chandeliers under the Club Quarters hotel, and it opens at 7am, so eating at five is no trouble at all. It is closed on Sundays, which costs you nothing here as there is no Sunday performance
  • Caffè Concerto, 43 Whitehall. Four minutes. Open 8am to 10pm seven days, no booking, Italian food and patisserie. The one to use when you have forty minutes and a club entry time to make
  • Thai Square Trafalgar Square, 21-24 Cockspur Street. Five minutes. Three courses for £30 including a glass of wine or a beer, two for £23, served daily until 6:30pm. Book the early sitting, or come here afterwards instead: it serves to 10:30pm Monday to Thursday and 11:30pm on Friday and Saturday, which makes it one of the few restaurants near this theatre that works after a 10:15pm finish

Drink

  • The Sherlock Holmes, 10 Northumberland Street. Two minutes, and the nearest pub to the door. A recreation of 221B upstairs and its own badged ales, which makes it the easy answer if you have visitors with you
  • Ship & Shovell, 1-3 Craven Passage. Two minutes, tucked behind the theatre. Two separate buildings facing each other across an alley, sharing one cellar underneath, which is believed to be unique in London. Badger beers from Dorset
  • The Admiralty, 66 Trafalgar Square. Five minutes, at the top of Whitehall. Three floors themed on HMS Victory, and the only place in range that will take a party of twelve without a booking

Stay

  • Club Quarters Hotel, Trafalgar Square, 8 Northumberland Avenue. Two minutes, on the same street. Four star in a nineteenth-century building with Boyd's downstairs, and the best distance-for-money on this list
  • The Clermont London, Charing Cross, Strand. Three minutes, and it sits directly on top of Charing Cross station, so if you are coming in by train you can leave the platform and be in your room
  • The Z Hotel Piccadilly, 2 Orange Street. Eight minutes. The rooms are compact and it is clean, central and cheap, which is the one to book if you would rather the money went on the tickets

Nearby FAQs

Where are the best restaurants near the Playhouse Theatre?

Boyd's on Northumberland Avenue is two minutes away and serves from 7am, which suits the early sitting this theatre needs. Thai Square on Cockspur Street does three courses for £30 until 6:30pm and stays open late enough to eat after the show. Caffè Concerto on Whitehall is open 8am to 10pm seven days and takes no booking.

Are there pubs near the Kit Kat Club?

Two within a couple of minutes. The Sherlock Holmes is on Northumberland Street with 221B recreated upstairs, and the Ship & Shovell is behind the theatre in Craven Passage, in two buildings on opposite sides of an alley. The Admiralty at the top of Whitehall is five minutes and has three floors.