London after dark: what stays open, and until when

London is not a late city by nature. It is a city with a few late streets, and the difference between a good night and a stranded one is knowing which.

Eleven, and why

Eleven is the standard pub licence and it is enforced. A late licence to one or two is common in the centre, three is a proper late bar, and past that you are in a club. Last entry is often an hour before closing, which catches out more people than closing time does.

Where the late licences actually are

They cluster in three or four places: Soho above all, the top of Shoreditch, and Dalston. Ronnie Scott’s runs a late show most nights, which is a different room from the early one and worth the difference.

The museums, which are late once a month

Not every night, and that is the part people get wrong. The monthly lates are the museum with the lights down and a bar in it. Tate Modern runs later than most as a matter of course, to nine on a Friday and Saturday.

Getting out

Night tube on five lines, Friday and Saturday only. Night buses every night, everywhere, slower than you want. The whole of that is worth reading before you go out.

Everything on this site that runs past eleven is flagged and dated on the late list.