146 Best Performing Arts Venues in England

The early-20th-century assembly rooms are now a Grade II–listed (meaning architecturally or historically significant) performance venue hosting live events for up to a thousand people. Performances include dance, music, and comedy, including enjoyable tribute bands.

Classics and modern plays are presented in this modernist, hexagonal theater from May through September, and it's a venue for touring companies the rest of the year. Opened in 1962, it now has an international reputation for innovative performances and attracts theatergoers from across the country.

The French Institute, a cultural center devoted to all things French, is also the home of Ciné Lumière, an Art Deco cinema that shows a thoughtfully curated selection of current arthouse releases, repertory classics, documentaries, and French films, all either in English or with English subtitles. The Institute also hosts lectures and panels on a wide range of contemporary issues and concerts by French artists. There's a brasserie, and, for Francophones (and if you're not one, the Institute offers French courses), the U.K.'s largest multimedia French language library that includes periodicals, books, and DVDs.

The biggest annual performing arts event in London is Dance Umbrella, a three-week festival in October that hosts international and British-based artists at venues across the city.

One of the foremost arts centers of the West Country, Dartington Hall lies 2 miles northwest of Totnes and has concerts, film screenings, and exhibitions. The gardens are the setting for outdoor music performances in summer. There's a café and pub, and you can stay overnight in rooms in the hall.

One of the oldest cinemas in the world, the elegant Duke of York's Picturehouse dates back to 1910 and shows an eclectic range of art-house movies and also hosts film-related discussions and events. It's a 10-minute walk north of the main train station.

Devoted to compositions written before the 18th century, the Early Music Festival is held each July in York. There's also a Christmas program in early December.

One of the oldest cinemas in the country, this refurbished Portobello Road art house screens mainstream and international movies. The emphasis is on comfort, with leather sofas, armchairs, side tables for your wine and appetizers, cashmere blankets, and even double beds in the front row.

Set in a prize-winning building, this vibrant theater focuses on British playwrights and experimental productions from around the world, as well as hosting a playwrights' workspace. There's also a café and a basement bistro. A nearby sister theater, the Playhouse, stages slightly more mainstream productions.

The late-Victorian Everyman is an intimate venue for opera, dance, concerts, and plays. The interior is the work of Frank Matcham, a famed architect of English theaters and music halls. There's a varied program of events year-round in the Main House, and the Irving Studio Theatre, a smaller, more intimate venue, stages more unusual productions. You can often catch pre– or post–West End productions here at a fraction of big-city prices. If you are visiting Cheltenham around Christmas and the New Year, try to get tickets for the annual pantomime, a family-friendly tradition that will have you rolling with laughter at familiar fairy-tale characters.

Tucked away behind the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, off Gandy Street, this arts center hosts contemporary exhibitions, as well as films, live music, and comedy. There's a good bar-café, too, with an outdoor terrace.

The Foundation for Art and Creative Technology offers up a unique mix of exhibitions, films, and participant-led art projects, plus a café.

For information on the town's ambitious lineup of festivals, contact the Festivals Box Office via phone from Tuesday to Friday.

This distinctive, curving, silver modern building designed by Sir Norman Foster and opened in 2004 hosts an array of concerts—jazz, world, pop, classical, folk, and rock—as well as music classes and workshops. It was previously called Sage Gateshead.

Held in Pilton (a few miles from the town of Glastonbury), the Glastonbury Festival is England's biggest and perhaps best annual music festival. For five days over the last weekend in June, it hosts hundreds of bands—established and up-and-coming—on five main stages, myriad smaller venues, and some 30 "areas." Tickets are steeply priced—around £360—and sell out months in advance; they include entertainment, a camping area, and service facilities. The organizers also host open-air concerts on the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, which take place in early August and feature big crowd-pullers (usually of an older vintage).

Outside the town center, the Gulbenkian mounts all kinds of plays, particularly experimental works, as well as dance performances, concerts, and comedy shows. It also screens films.

The history of this treasure of a theater is drama in its own right. Charlie Chaplin is said to have appeared at Hackney Empire during its days as a thriving variety theater and music hall in the early 1900s. The venue now hosts traditional family entertainment and variety shows, opera, music, musical theater, dance, and drama, often with a multicultural slant. Its annual Christmas pantomime show is legendary.

Located in nearby Swiss Cottage, this handsome theater specializes in commissioning and producing new work. Established names like Mike Bartlett, Terry Johnson, and Joe Penhall have debuted plays in the upstairs theater (with several productions eventually going on to the West End), while fresh voices are produced in the downstairs studio theater at friendly ticket prices. It's also known for its productions of recent Pulitzer Prize–winning plays imported from the United States. There's a good café that's open all day as well as during performances.

The town of Harrogate hosts music and crime-writing festivals in July and a literature festival in October, as well as musical recital and lecture programs throughout the year.

A floating stage and spectacular musical events, from classical to folk, draw a well-heeled crowd who dress to impress. The Henley Festival takes place during the week after the regatta in July.

You would never suspect that behind the stately white John Nash--designed stucco facade in the heart of Establishment London, you'll find a champion of the avant-garde. Since 1947, the ICA has been pushing boundaries in visual arts, performance, theater, dance, and music. There are two movie theaters, a performance theater, three galleries, a highbrow bookstore, a reading room, and a café-bar.

Celebrating the great writer with films, plays, walks, and talks for 10 days in September, the Jane Austen Festival is a feast for Janeites. Festivities in 2025 will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the writer's birth.

With an excellent festival in February or March and a program of international and classic films, the Keswick Film Club lights up the beautiful, 100-year-old, redbrick Alhambra Cinema on St. John's Street and the Theatre by the Lake.

During regular terms, King's College Chapel has evensong services Monday through Saturday at 5:30 and Sunday at 3:30. Your best chance of seeing the full choir is Thursday to Sunday.

The cultural jewel of the King's Cross transformation, this airy concert venue is home to the Aurora Orchestra, the world's first professional orchestra to perform whole symphonies by the likes of Mozart and Beethoven without sheet music. There's a varied cultural calendar here, including jazz, comedy, folk, and political and literary lectures, plus two gallery spaces.

This lavish Victorian auditorium dating back to 1878 hosts touring West End and other musicals, pop musicians, and major stand-up comedians, in addition to performances by the leading regional opera and ballet companies, Opera North and Northern Ballet, which are based here.

The Victorian Town Hall hosts a season (October through May) of some 200 concerts featuring top national and international orchestras as well as chamber ensembles and renowned pianists. Jazz, world music, rock, and brass bands also play free shows at outdoor bandstands in city parks.

In the heart of Leeds's cultural quarter, this ultramodern theater's adaptable space makes it eminently suitable for staging both new works and classics.

Innovative puppetry performances for children and adults have been taking place in this adorable former temperance hall since 1961.