The Oldest West End Theatres

Booking a show at one of the Oldest West End Theatres is a great way to tick off multiple things on your trip to London. See a great show? Tick. Visit a historic venue? Tick. Take in beautiful classic theatrical architecture? Tick! London is a city with rich history and culture, so embrace it all. Here’s the run down on the oldest theatre venues and the current productions playing there.

Theatre Royal Drury Lane
362 Years Old

There has been a theatre on this site since 1663. It was built during the Restoration period under the commission of King Charles II. This venue takes the top spot in our list of the oldest West End theatres. Many famous faces have trod the boards here from Nell Gwyn in the 1600s to Rex Harrison in the 1960s and most recently Tom Hiddleston in Much Ado About Nothing.

The venue first started operating under its current name after its rebuild in 1678. The building as you see it today is the 3rd physical building on this site of the same name. The current design is by Benjamin Wyatt from the reconstruction in 1812. Although restoration work took place in 2013, most of the features are as they would have been when they reopened their doors more than 200 years ago.

The current production at the oldest theatre in the West End is Hercules. It is a brand new production at this historic venue. In fact it officially opened just 2 weeks ago! It is an adaptation of the classic Disney musical about the Greek demigod Hercules.

You can book your tickets for Disney’s Hercules playing at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane here.

The Theatre Royal Haymarket
305 years old

The Theatre Royal Haymarket is the 2nd place for the oldest west end theatres. Although the venue was built in 1720, the theatre as you see it today is from a redesign in 1821. Back in the 1720’s you couldn’t legally sell tickets to put on a show without the permission of the Royal Family which hadn’t been granted to this venue. As such, it was often closed by the Constabulary. The theatre was shut down in 1737 due to its highly popular yet political plays. This was due to new censorship laws that came into place. It reopened 8 years later. It wasn’t until 1754 that the venue finally received The Royal Patent which allowed it to legally put on shows.

Interestingly, The Theatre Royal Haymarket only received the royal patent due to a prank gone wrong! The owner Samuel Foote was a close friend of the Duke Of York. On a hunting trip the Royal Hunting Party gave Foote a known difficult horse. Unfortunately, the horse threw Foote off the saddle which resulted in a nasty leg break and a following amputation! Foote used this to his advantage to secure the Royal Patent for the venue which is still a royal venue to this day.

The theatre was a favorite of Queen Victoria however, the building as you see it today is mainly from its renovation in 1930. They’ve built a reputation for having stars on stage. Stars such as Derek Jacobi, Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench to name a few.

Currently, the venue is showing Till The Stars Come Down until 27th September 2025. The Production after that welcomes other famous face to tread the boards. From 26th October, Othello will play at this historic venue with celebrities David Harewood, Toby Jones and Caitlin FitzGerald following in many a famous footstep.

The Adelphi Theatre
219 Years Old

Coming in at 3rd place of London’s oldest West End Theatres is The Adelphi Theatre. It was founded in 1806 by a merchant and his daughter Jane Scott and was originally named Sans Pareil.

Jane Scott retired in 1819 after writing more than 50 stage pieces and even translations! Following this, the theatre reopened under its current name. The venue was renowned during this period for it’s melodramas before turning to more serious dramas when it changed hands in 1844.

Throughout the late 1800s renovations took place which included knocking through the two buildings adjacent to it. This is how the venue now has the capacity to seat 1500 people as it does today.

Althought this old theatre is rich with history, the venue as you see it today is in an art deco style from it’s redesign in 1930.

The current production is in fact, Back To The Future which opened at The Adelphi Theatre 4 years ago.

The Vaudeville Theatre
155 Years Old

The Vaudeville Theatre is the 4th out of our oldest West End theatres. It opened in 1870, mainly showing Vaudeville shows, hence its name. Interestingly, in it’s inaugural year, the great Henry Irving had his first success in a play that held 300 performances at the theatre!

The Vaudeville Theatre was very successful for its first 50 years, particularly and was the first theatre to surpass 1000 performances of a production of Our Boys. Even local bus drivers called the Theatre Our Boys instead of its name because it was so well known for this.

As the venue struggled for backstage space in its original construction and so a redesign in 1925 tackled this by reducing the audience capacity to 690. However, despite this redesign the ceiling still has the beautiful fan design from 1870.

This historical theatre is in fact, celebrating herstory with the hit musical Six. The show has reigned at The Vaudeville Theatre for 4 years.

The Savoy Theatre
144 Years Old

The Savoy Theatre is the 5th and final one on our list of the Oldest West End Theatres. It was opened in 1881 with the intention of putting on Gilbert and Sullivan Shows. They used proceeds of the successful shows to fund the famous adjacent Savoy hotel which opened just 5 years after the theatre.

The Savoy Theatre made history when it opened as it was the first ever building to be entirely lit by electricity.

Although it is one of the newer venues, The Savoy is striking when you step inside. In 1929, management closed the venue to redecorate in an art deco style. The Theatre is such a good example of art deco design due to a fire that broke out in 1990. The fire left only the stage and backstage untouched. Due to the building’s history and being registered as a listed building, the management had to restore the building as it was.

Currently, the theatre is dark but just this week, Burlesque the musical will open at this beautiful and historic theatre.