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West End theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue
Ben Rowe

West End area guide

Keep busy in central London with our pick of the best things to eat, see, do, book and drink in the West End

Written by
Things To Do Editors
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London’s West End is the beating heart of central London. It’s the place where shoppers rack up serious debt on Oxford Street, theatre nuts coo over the latest plays and musicals and tourists flock to soak up the delights of Covent Garden and its surroundings.

It’s also where you’ll find plenty of London’s best restaurants, bars and clubs, many of them somewhere on the narrow streets of Soho, the city’s most reliably buzzy party district. But the West End’s not all about expense and excess – it’s also home to some of London's best free things to do, including the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. Plan a perfect trip to central London with our guide to the best things to do, see, eat and drink in the West End. 

RECOMMENDED: Our London area guides.

The best bits of the West End

The perfect weekend in the West End

Eat: The Barbary

Eat: The Barbary

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

It’s been crowned the best restaurant in London by Time Out food critics. 

Best restaurants in the West End

Bao

Bao

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4

Terrific-value food you can eat with your fingers. 

10 Greek Street

10 Greek Street

  • 5 out of 5 stars

It's not big but it is clever. Top-notch small plates and nice little touches will turn you into a superfan. 

Magpie

Magpie

  • 4 out of 5 stars

A cross between dim sum dining and a funky tasting menu.

Hoppers

Hoppers

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

Worth the queue if knockout Sri Lankan small plates are your bag. 

Temper

Temper

  • 5 out of 5 stars

Barbecue in rotis and flatbreads in a Soho basement. With party tunes. 

Things to do in the West End

Bars and pubs in the West End

Bar Termini

Bar Termini

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

When someone calls two people a ‘dream team’, my hype-detector lights up. But with Bar Termini, the DT moniker seems fitting. Bar Termini does two things:...

Cahoots

Cahoots

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 3 of 4

I really wasn’t expecting to like Cahoots, the vintage tube-themed bar that’s a bigger hit with tourists than Madame Tussauds. From its ‘tally ho’ e-comms...

Blind Pig

Blind Pig

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

Though technically an upstairs adjunct to Jason Atherton’s celebrated Social Eating House (which itself garnered a five-star review in Time Out), The Blind Pig...

Tea Room at Bun House

Tea Room at Bun House

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 3 of 4

Bun House: a whole lotta fun with its steamy takeaway counter, informal layout and Cantonese decor on a buzzy corner where Old Compton Street meets Greek...

Swift

Swift

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

From the couple who brought us cult faves Nightjar and Oriole comes Swift, swooping into the former site of the celebrated, groundbreaking Lab Bar. Frankly, if...

Mark’s Bar

Mark’s Bar

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

The basement of Hix Soho remains one of Soho’s most popular cocktail haunts, and that’s only partly because of its highly unusual drinks based on...

Soho Grind

Soho Grind

  • 4 out of 5 stars

The phrase ‘Soho grind’ might bring to mind more than just coffee, but there’s nothing unsavoury about this spot on Beak Street. Once you’re inside the second...

Milk & Honey

Milk & Honey

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

Since opening in 2002, this London outpost of the top-drawer Manhattan M&H has been one of central London’s best places for drinking proper cocktails in clubby...

Hotels in the West End

Theatre in the West End