How to get London theatre tickets without overpaying

West End tickets have one of the widest price ranges of anything you will buy in London. The same performance, the same seat, bought two different ways, can differ by a lot. Most of that difference is avoidable.

Buy from the theatre itself when you can

Every official theatre site sells its own tickets, and buying direct avoids the extra booking fees that resale and third-party sites add on top. If a site is offering a seat that the theatre itself says is sold out, you are looking at resale, and you will pay for it.

The day-of-performance discount booth

The official discount booth in Leicester Square sells same-day and next-day tickets at reduced prices for shows with seats left to fill. It is run by the industry body rather than by a reseller, which is what separates it from the many lookalike shops around the square advertising cheap tickets.

Day seats and lotteries

Many long-running shows release a small number of very cheap seats on the morning of the performance, or run an online lottery a day or two before. The seats are usually in the front row or at the side. If you are flexible about which show you see, this is the cheapest way into the West End by a wide margin.

Midweek beats weekend

A Tuesday or Wednesday evening is consistently cheaper than a Friday or Saturday for the same production, and matinees are cheaper again. If your dates are flexible, moving the night moves the price.

Read the seat description, not just the price

"Restricted view" covers everything from a slightly awkward angle to a pillar in front of your face. The theatre's own seating plan usually says which. A cheap seat with a genuinely bad view is not a bargain.