Hotels near Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Drury Lane, Catherine Street, WC2B 5JF
Nearest Tube: Covent Garden

The grand old dame of the West End has been amazing and entertaining audiences from visiting monarchs in one of its two Royal Boxes to plebians in the pit since 1663, making it London's oldest theatre, and thus, one of the world's great performance spaces.

As well as the most regally opulent interior it hosts the biggest shows in town - from being transformed into a woody hobbit-hole for the Lord of the Rings, the most expensive musical every produced, to current incumbent Oliver! starring Rowan Atkinson as Fagin - so if it's event status you're after from your visit, Drury Lane is the first place to look.

A history of the Theatre Royal is the history of London theatre itself: frivolous pastimes like theatre were banned under Cromwell's puritanical reign, but Charles II's restoration to the throne in 1660 saw an explosion of bawdy plays and even bawdier living - particularly at Drury Lane, one of only two theatres given the monopoly on presenting "serious drama" by the monarch in a statue that lasted nearly two hundred years, and also the playhouse where he met his infamous actress mistress Nell Gwynne.

Drury Lane burnt down in 1673, a fate which also befell the third incarnation of the Theatre Royal in 1809, a 3,600 capacity firetrap - in the intervening years, actor-manager David Garrick had single-handedly brought Shakespeare's work back from the dead at Drury Lane in the mid-18th century, giving the bard's work a surge of posthumous popularity that continues to this day and cementing his genius as the finest of English language playwrights. Shakespeare was replaced by spectacle at the fourth and current Theatre Royal, opening in 1812: over the next century you could see chariot races, train crashes, floods, raging fires, underwater fights and hot air balloons in various productions here, all created with flagrant disregard for safety standards and leaving the 3,000-strong audience open-mouthed in astonishment.

As well as the introduction of a festive pantomime, the Theatre Royal became the undisputed home of the large scale musical spectacular by the 1920s: Ivor Novello starred in many of his favourite musical compositions here, and Rodgers and Hammerstein became de facto owners for a decade, exporting hit after hit for their London debuts - The King and I, Oklahoma!, South Pacific and Carousel were introduced to the UK via this stage.

But the biggest hit in the history of the Theatre Royal was Miss Saigon, setting up home for a decade from 1989, and cementing today's age where producer Cameron Mackintosh and Drury Lane owner Andrew Lloyd-Webber dominate the West End with their big budget, populist, visually stunning musicals - just how much has changed in two hundred years?

Bedford Avenue, West End, London WC1B 3AS
Tottenham Court Road

Our most popular tried and tested 3 star hotel in the West End of London. The St Giles is only a short walk away from the Theatre Royal Drury Lane

372 Strand, West End, London WC2R 0JJ UK
Covent Garden

The Strand Palace is only a very few minutes easy stroll to Covent Garden, the London Eye and Drury Lane. The hotel is located on the Strand in the West End and is close to many theatres, restaurants and bars. To its north lies Holborn and Russell Square, an area that is home to the British Museum, whilst to the east lies Tottenham Court Road, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.