What time do West End shows finish? The curtain times, the running times, and when you are actually out

Every theatre listing in London tells you when a show starts. Almost none tells you when it ends, which is the half that decides whether you book a table afterwards, whether you drive, and whether you make the last train. The answer is usually earlier than people fear, and the arithmetic is not hard once somebody publishes both halves.

Curtain, running time, and when you are out

Curtain and running times off each show’s own site, September 2026. Out by is the two added together and assumes the show starts on time.

Note what that table says: the longest of the three, a play with a reputation for eating an entire day, has you on the pavement by five to ten. A West End evening is not the late night people plan around. It ends while the kitchens are still serving.

Two schedule changes, one done and one coming

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is no longer two plays. The two part version gave its final performances on 20 September 2026, and the reimagined one part show opened on 9 October 2026, running about 2 hours 55 minutes including an interval, on one ticket in one visit. Anything still describing a Part One and a Part Two, two tickets, or two evenings was written before the change.

The Mousetrap moves its schedule on 9 November 2026. Until 8 November the matinees are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 3pm with evenings Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm. From 9 November the matinees move to Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and Tuesday and Thursday evenings come forward to 7pm while the rest stay at 7.30pm.

Matinees, and the shows that run two a day

SIX plays twice on Thursday and Saturday, at 4pm and 8pm, and twice on Sunday at 3pm and 7pm. Harry Potter doubles up on Wednesday and Saturday at 1pm and 7pm, and plays Sunday at 2.30pm only. A 1pm start on a Saturday is the one people miss: it is a lunchtime show, not an afternoon one, and it wants you in the West End before noon.

Age limits worth checking before you book

Harry Potter is recommended for ages 8 and over. Everyone entering needs a ticket regardless of age, under 5s are not admitted at all, babes in arms are not allowed in the auditorium, and anyone under 15 must be with an adult. That is stricter than most West End houses and it is enforced at the door.

The shows that will not tell you

Three of the biggest will not. Wicked, the Lion King and Les Miserables publish schedules and booking links without putting a running time anywhere findable on their own sites, so we have not guessed one. If the end time matters to your evening, the box office will tell you on the phone, and it is worth the call rather than trusting a number on a listings site.

Getting home

On these times you are not in a race. A show out at 21.55 leaves the whole evening open, and the Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines run all night on Friday and Saturday anyway. Midweek the last trains still matter, but a West End curtain is not what will make you miss one. Dinner afterwards will.