After dark
Clubs, live music, comedy, late cinema and the rest of London after dark. Every venue is linked to its own page, with the date we read it.
London does not go quiet when the shops shut. It goes out. The Greater London Authority has described the capital’s night-time economy as worth £26 billion a year and supporting 1.25 million jobs, and its evidence base found that two thirds of Londoners are regularly active at night.
Figures from the GLA: night-time economy and music and London at night: an evidence base. They are the GLA's own, from the dates of those documents.
Each guide lists venues whose own websites show late hours, with the words they use and the date we read them. It is not a ranking, nobody pays to be here, and a venue missing is not a venue we dislike: it is one we could not verify. Want the closest to you? Find the nearest verified place.
Every place we have verified, grouped by where it is: Central London, North London, East London, South London and West London, or by neighbourhood: Shoreditch and Hoxton. Each shows the words the venue’s own page uses about its hours and the date we read them.
Journalist, researcher or council officer? The whole list is free to download as CSV or JSON: the late-night London dataset.
London has a Night Czar. The Mayor appointed Amy Lamé to champion London as a 24-hour city and help the night-time economy grow safely and sustainably.
Getting around is part of the night. According to Transport for London the Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines, and cuts night-time journeys by an average of 20 minutes. Night buses run 24 hours a day and every bus is fitted with CCTV, and Tube, Elizabeth line and London Overground stations are staffed from first train to last, says TfL’s safer-travel page. The full picture: which lines run all night and getting home after the last train.
Food and drink follow a rule worth knowing: serving hot food or hot drink between 11pm and 5am needs a licence, cold food never does. That is why late-night kitchens and cafés look the way they do.
In an emergency, call 999. If your drink has been spiked and you think you have been sexually assaulted, the NHS advises going to your nearest sexual assault referral centre. If your drink was spiked but you were not sexually assaulted, the NHS advises calling 111 for urgent medical advice if you have symptoms you are worried about, and contacting the police. Rape Crisis England and Wales runs a free support line on 0808 500 2222, open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
More: getting home safely at night · urgent mental-health help at night · emergency numbers.
There are fewer licensed late-night venues than there were a decade ago. Time Out reported in February 2026 that 58 London venues hold a 24-hour licence, down from 91 in 2010. The numbers, the sources and the chart are in London’s shrinking night. It is one more reason to check a venue’s own page before you set out.
Nightlife
Halloween 2026 is a Saturday, and a Night Tube night. Halloween club nights and parties on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October, each checked on the venue's own page, with end times, last entry, prices and the way home.
Nightlife
7 verified London venues for late bars, each linked to its own website with the words it uses about its late hours and the date we read it. By area.
Nightlife
6 verified London venues for clubs and dance floors, each linked to its own website with the words it uses about its late hours and the date we read it. By area.
Nightlife
6 verified London venues for comedy and cinema, each linked to its own website with the words it uses about its late hours and the date we read it. By area.
Nightlife
5 verified London venues for karaoke, bowling and arcades, each linked to its own website with the words it uses about its late hours and the date we read it. By area.
Nightlife
6 verified London venues for live music and jazz, each linked to its own website with the words it uses about its late hours and the date we read it. By area.
Nightlife
5 verified London venues for museum lates, each linked to its own website with the words it uses about its late hours and the date we read it. By area.
Nightlife
The data behind London's shrinking night: 24-hour licences down from 91 to 58, late-night venues down a fifth in five years, and a Mayor now trying to reverse it.