East End boys? West End girls?

The Pet Shop Boys have been singing about East End boys and West End girls for more than 40 years and they’re still going strong. East End, the gritty, traditional home of London’s working class, West End, the city’s upmarket playground and shopping and entertainment hub.

But for millions of visitors every year, the West End means quite simply Theatreland.

This is the London of Shaftesbury Avenue, Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus and the Strand. And what makes it remarkable is not simply the quality of the theatres, but their extraordinary concentration. There were 39 West End theatres at the last count, many of them within a few minutes’ walk of one another.

On any evening you can choose from dozens of different productions - musicals, dramas, comedies, classic plays, new writing and spectacular family shows. West End theatres stage around 18,500 performances, attracting more than 17 million theatregoers every year.

So when you’ve made your choice, what is it going to cost? The most sought-after seats for the biggest productions can cost well over £100, and occasionally considerably more. But surprisingly, most West End tickets cost £60 or less. Last-minute and discounted tickets can make the experience cheaper still.

And in case you’re wondering which show has been running the longest, well there’s really no contest. Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opened in 1952 and is well past its 30,000th performance!

Once you’ve got your ticket, get there early. For the visitor, one of the great pleasures is simply wandering around before the performance and perhaps getting a bite to eat. Most evening shows begin at about 7.30pm and last around two and a half hours, meaning that you will usually emerge at about 10pm into the brilliantly lit streets of Theatreland.

One question often asked is whether the West End or Broadway can claim to be the theatre capital of the world. Well it depends how you measure it. They each have about the same number of theatres but far more people watch shows in London’s West End than in New York’s Broadway.

There is therefore a very strong case for London being the world’s greatest theatre city. Enjoy!

Written for the guide in September 2026. Prices, opening hours and booking arrangements change, so check with each venue before you go.

Header photograph: Savoy Court, the Savoy's entrance off the Strand - the only street in Britain where traffic drives on the right.