London Folk Music Venues

Royal Festival Hall

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/royal-festival-hall

Royal Festival Hall is at the heart of the Southbank Centre site. Opened in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain, the Grade I listed Hall is one of the world’s leading performance venues. The auditorium has a fixed raked seating capacity of 2500. As well as the auditorium, there is The Clore Ballroom, The Poetry Library, Spirit Level, (including Blue, White and Yellow Rooms) Southbank Centre Shop, Riverside Terrace Cafe, Central Bar and Skylon restaurant.

The different seating areas of the auditorium are on the following levels of Royal Festival Hall:

Front stalls – levels 3 & 4

Side stalls – level 4

Rear stalls – levels 4 & 5

Boxes – levels 5 & 6

Balcony – level 6

All auditorium entry doors can be accessed by lift or stairs. The JCB Glass Lift and Lift 1 provide flat access to all levels of the auditorium.

Eating and Drinking

There are bars on levels 2, 4 and 5 and Riverside Cafe is located on level 2.

Royal Festival Hall has the acclaimed Skylon restaurant with contemporary food, original cocktails and stunning views over the river. There are bars on Levels 2, 4 and 5 of the building open to the public. The Members Bar, located on Level 6 with panoramic views over the river, is open to Southbank Centre Members.

There are many places to eat and drink around Southbank Centre, with something for all tastes, occasions and ages.

Southbank Centre is currently trialing a pre-ordered interval drinks system for certain performances at Royal Festival Hall, see our questions and answers page for more information.

ROYAL FESTIVAL HIVE
The Royal Festival Hive is a bee hive on the roof of the Royal Festival Hall housing a colony of honey bees. The hive, shaped like the Royal Festival Hall building, was installed by beekeepers Barnaby Shaw and Mikey Tomkins in 2007, alongside film maker Andrew Hinton.The bees have enjoyed their ‘penthouse’ position on our site ever since and have been producing honey. Central London provides a surprisingly good home for honeybees, with a rich array of flora, enhanced by our Roof Garden above the Royal Festival Hall.

Entry to Royal Festival Hall and to all our buildings is free, and you are welcome to come into our Foyer spaces and enjoy the atmosphere with or without a ticket.