Cheap tickets for West End shows

The first question people usually ask West End Whingers is “Why do you bother going to the theatre when you so obviously don’t really enjoy it?”

The second question is “how do you afford it?”

So here are our top tips for affordable West End outings.

  • Check out the special offers on WhatsOnStage.com and LoveTheatre
  • Use TKTS, the half price ticket booth on Leicester Square. Their website tells you What’s on sale at TKTS today
  • Also take a look at the Official London Theatre website offers
  • Check out the tips on TheatreMonkey
  • Try other discount ticket providers such as Leicester Square Box Office.
  • For big blockbuster shows which aren’t likely to have offers, look into getting 10 people together for a group booking. This enabled WEW to see The Sound of Music for £30 instead of £55.
  • Ring the theatre and find if they do day seats. West End Whingers sat in the front row of the stalls to see Kathleen Turner in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for £10 simply by turning up at the box office at 10am on the day.
  • Previews are sometimes cheaper; if so, go before the opening night.
  • Cultivate friends who are nurses and firefighters. Many theatres “dress the house” by offering cheap or even free tickets to “key workers”.
  • Cultivate friends “in the business”; they can sometimes get you comps.
  • Some people do well out of subscription services such as The Audience Club or Play-by-Play. These generally involve paying an annual fee which enables you to purchase tickets for certain shows on certain dates at silly prices (e.g. £2.50).

One Response to “Cheap tickets for West End shows”

  1. mica Says:

    Monday 20 August 2007 at 4:09 pm

    The tkts booth in the Square is apparently the official outlet and fairly straight. The others advertise half-price tickets but, in our experience, don’t deliver anything like that level of discount. Our worst experience was with the booth in the Crest of London store run by ‘London Ticket Centre’. We paid 25 pounds each for 4 tickets and, on arriving at the theatre, found they’d given us 13.50 face-value tickets. When we went back to the booth, we finally got a refund but not before the operator had abused and sworn at us at length. Steer clear of this one and treat the claims of the others with a pinch of salt.


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