Restaurants, Bars and Hotels Near the Lyric Theatre

The Lyric sits between Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown, which is one of the densest few hundred yards of restaurants, bars and pubs in London. These are the places we send people, and everything below is within eight minutes of the theatre.

Restaurants

Preto (2 to 3 minutes). 73 Shaftesbury Avenue. The closest of the lot, and a Brazilian rodizio, where the meat keeps coming until you turn the card over, so you control the pace before a curtain-up. Good for a hungry group.

Wong Kei (6 to 8 minutes). 41-43 Wardour Street, in Chinatown. Cantonese, a huge menu, and fast. With 45 minutes before curtain-up and four people to feed, go here.

Bill's Soho (5 to 7 minutes). Brewer Street. All-day British and European food with a pre-theatre menu, and a menu that copes with a family where everyone wants something different.

Brasserie Zédel (4 minutes). 20 Sherwood Street, just off Piccadilly Circus. Straightforward French food downstairs in an old ballroom, and the set menu is the one to order before a show. Book, because everybody else has worked it out too.

Hawksmoor Air Street (6 to 8 minutes). Air Street, off Regent Street. Steak and seafood in a large Art Deco dining room, and the one to book if the theatre trip is the occasion rather than the evening. Allow two hours and book ahead.

Bars and pubs

Waxy O'Connor's (3 minutes). 14-16 Rupert Street. The closest pub of any size, an Irish bar on several floors. It's big enough to take a pre-theatre crowd, which most Soho pubs aren't.

The Blue Posts (3 to 4 minutes). 28 Rupert Street. A proper corner pub over several floors, quieter than its neighbours and easier to get a table in before a show.

Ham Yard Bar (3 to 5 minutes). 1 Ham Yard, tucked off Great Windmill Street. The Ham Yard Hotel's own bar, on its courtyard. Calmer than the pubs on Rupert Street, and the easier place to talk before a show.

Bar Américain (4 minutes). 20 Sherwood Street. An Art Deco cocktail bar in the same building as Brasserie Zédel, so you can have a drink downstairs before dinner or after the show.

Hotels

Ham Yard Hotel (3 to 5 minutes). 1 Ham Yard. A design-led hotel with its own bowling alley and a small cinema, and the Ham Yard Bar on the doorstep for a drink after the show.

Montcalm Piccadilly Townhouse (3 to 4 minutes). 65-73 Shaftesbury Avenue. On the same street as the theatre, so you can walk back after the show in a few minutes.

The Z Hotel Piccadilly (6 to 8 minutes). 2 Orange Street. Compact rooms at a sensible price.

W London (6 to 8 minutes). Leicester Square. Bold, busy and geared to a night out rather than an early one.