If you want to see a show at a london theatre, where's the best place to buy tickets? Or, how do you buy london theatre tickets at the best price? When we want tickets, we approach the task in the following order:

1. The 'tkts' half price ticket booth:

The tkts ticket booth in Leicester Square is one of the best way to snap up last minute bargain tickets for many of London’s top shows, especially if you want top price tickets.

Founded in 1980, tkts is the only official half price and discount theatre ticket booth in London. You’ll find it in the clock tower building on the south side of the garden in Leicester Square. It is the only free-standing building actually within the Square, rather than around the edge.

tkts is open every day of the week, all year round (with the exception of Christmas Day) Monday to Saturday. 10:00 - 19:00 for matinee and evening performances and Sunday 12:00 - 15:30 for matinee performances only.

What we like to do is to use the page on the official london theatre website (go to (officiallondontheatre.co.uk and click on the 'tkts' button - it looks like an advertisement - on that page) to see if there are tickets available for the show we want to see. If there are tickets at the booth, we can either buy them half price at the booth, or we can approach the theatre direct to see what they can do.

Why would we approach the theatre direct when the booth has half price tickets? The tickets on sale at the booth tend to be the top price tickets (the front few rows of the stalls). If you want to be in these seats, that's fine. Rather than paying £45.00 for them, you'll get them for £22.50 plus a £2 booking fee. But if you only wanted a dress circle seat that would have cost £25.00, by buying 'better' tickets half price at the booth, you only saved 50p. In this situation, we go to theatre.

(Whilst you're online, another place to look for half price tickets is London Theatre Tickets Direct. This is an alternative to the booth. They don't have tickets to all of the shows, but those they do have are half price, and sometimes less than half price. They also offer some very good theatre ticket and meal packages.)

2. Buying tickets at a london theatre (including the £10 challenge):

(For information on london theatres, see our london theatre list by theatre name or our london theatre list by show)

Certain shows are so popular that tickets are never offered at the tkts booth. For these shows you need to go to the theatre direct or to an agency (step 3). If you can wait, you can get tickets to any show in a few months. This is especially so if you want a Friday or Saturday night. But if you don't mind going on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night, or to a matinee, you can usually get tickets this week or next, even for the most popular shows. And even at weekends you might be lucky; all shows, even the top shows, have returns and single seats for many of their performances. It's always worth asking.

As we mentioned in 1 above, you might also talk to the theatre booking office if you know that they have tickets available for the show you want, but you don't want top price tickets. Here, the best approach is to be polite and 'matter of fact'. You know they have some top price tickets for sale at half price at the booth, but you would like some tickets in the dress circle (or where ever). Do they have tickets in the dress circle and can they sell them to you at half price please? You'll win some and you'll lose some, but even if you don't get the tickets half price, you'll usually get something off.

If this doesn't work, another strategy is what we call 'the £10 challenge'. If you know that the theatre has tickets available and you're prepared to chance your arm at 2 or 3 theatres (some will say 'no' but as the theatres are all pretty close to each other, you can try 2 or 3), you turn up late - an hour or so before the show - put down £10 and ask if they can sell you a ticket for that. You'll be surprised how often you get a seat.

3. ticket agencies:

If you need theatre tickets and you can't get one from the booth or from the theatre, the only option is to try the ticket agencies.

Before you part with you cash, make sure you know the face value of the ticket you are buying, where it is in the theatre (is it a restricted view, for example) and make sure that it is a genuine ticket (which means not buying them from a man in the street).

Here are some official theatre ticket agency websites, for you to have a look at and to compare prices (the first 3 offer the hard to get tickets, but they tend to be expensive, the last 2 offer a more limited range, but they have bargain theatre tickets):

Ticketmaster - one of the top theatre ticket agencies, they have tickets for just about every show and performance.
Keith Prowse / First Call - another large london theatre ticket agency who will have tickets for most shows and performances.
Viator - offer a range of london attraction tickets, in addition to theatre tickets. They have tickets to all of the most popular shows.
London Theatre Tickets Direct - this is an alternative to the booth. They don't have tickets to all of the shows, but those they do have are half price (and sometimes less than half price). They also offer some very good theatre ticket and meal packages.
lastminute.com - in addition to flights and hotels, lastminute offer london theatre tickets. They are always worth a look.

4. London Theatre Breaks:

Another option is to book theatre tickets and a hotel together. If you are looking for a london theatre break, click on the link in the box in the top left hand column of this page, for advice and information on how to get the best price and the best tickets for your london theatre break

5. London's top theatre shows

london's top theatre shows - find out what the papers pick as the top shows.