Off-West End · Inner London

Purcell Room

The Purcell Room is the Southbank Centre's smallest hall, opened in 1967 in the same building as the Queen Elizabeth Hall and named after Henry Purcell. A single steeply raked auditorium of around 300 seats, it is used for chamber music, spoken word, cabaret and small-scale dance and performance, and shares the Queen Elizabeth Hall's foyer, bars and toilets.

Inner London295 seats · intimate venue1 seating tierSouthbank Centre

Seating

StallsSmall, steep and clear from every seat; sit centrally.

Stalls

One block of seats on a steep, continuous rake, with no circle above it. Nowhere is far from the stage, and the rake keeps the row in front out of your eyeline, so there is no bad seat as such — the choice is between being close and being central.

Best view: the middle rows, centre, for an eye-level view that still takes in the whole stage.
Restricted view: none to speak of. The front rows sit close to a low stage, which suits cabaret and spoken word better than dance, where you may prefer a few rows back.

Staying nearby

The nearest hotels to the Purcell Room, for anyone travelling in for a show rather than heading home after it.

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Facilities

Toilets

Shared with the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Accessible gender-neutral toilets are available in the Foyer. Separate male and female toilets are also located in the Foyer. Unisex accessible toilets can be found on the ground floor by the Artists' Entrance and off the foyer.

Bars

Cloakroom

£1

Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer

First-come, first-served.

Stage door

Artists' Entrance on the Queen Elizabeth Hall slip road (Level 1), located between the Royal Festival Hall and the Hayward Gallery, off Belvedere Road.

Location

Open in Maps

Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Getting there

nearest first

5–10 min
Waterloo
BakerlooJubileeNorthernWaterloo & City
10–15 min
Embankment
BakerlooCircleDistrictNorthern

Step-by-step walking directions

The Purcell Room is entered through the Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer within the Southbank Centre complex. The nearest Tube stations are Waterloo (Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern, and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (Bakerloo, Circle, District, and Northern lines). From Waterloo, exit towards the South Bank and follow signs for the Southbank Centre, a 5-10 minute walk. From Embankment, cross Hungerford Bridge (pedestrian bridge) to the South Bank, then turn left, a 10-15 minute walk. Waterloo East (National Rail), directly connected to Waterloo station, is also nearby.

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