Aerial Views of the Southbank Centre and Visitors

Royal Festival Hall

Welcome to one of the world’s leading performance venues

Situated in the heart of London, on the banks of the River Thames is the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, a beacon for arts and culture for over 70 years.

The 2,700 capacity Royal Festival Hall auditorium fast became one of the world’s landmark performance venues when it opened as part of the 1951 Festival of Britain. And since the introduction of the Greater London Council’s ‘Open Foyer’ policy in 1983, this Grade I listed building has been open daily, free for anyone to visit and enjoy its light spacious interior.

Find out the latest events happening in our Royal Festival Hall, and discover the best places to eat, drink and shop while you’re here.

What’s inside?

the Royal Festival Hall auditorium
Welcome Desk & Ticket Office
The Clore Ballroom
National Poetry Library
Members’ Lounge
Festival Bar & Kitchen
Ballroom Cafe
Seventy5th Balcony Bar
Skylon restaurant
Archive Studio

On now & coming up

View more events in What’s on

For your visit

Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre

The Royal Festival Hall is open six days a week.

Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.

A concrete building with flags on the roof, with the London Eye and Big Ben in the background

A lively crowd cheers with raised hands, while a performer in a white hat and suit plays guitar, against red lighting.

A guitarist performing on a dark stage at the Royal Festival Hall, lit up by multiple spotlights.

Pianis Víkingur Ólafsson is seated at a grand piano while playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations on the stage of Royal Festival Hall

Organist Carol Williams plays the Royal Festival Hall organ whiich is illumiated with bold colours

The Royal Festival Hall is home to our largest auditorium as well as The Clore Ballroom, National Poetry Library, Members’ Lounge, Festival Bar & Kitchen, Ballroom Cafe and Skylon restaurant.

Getting here

Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.

The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.

We’re cash-free

Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.

We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.

All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.

All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.

On Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace. You can grab a coffee and a slice of freshly made cake from our Ballroom Cafe. Or alternatively enjoy destination dining in the restaurant at Skylon.

From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.

Other places to eat and drink whilst you’re here