Lets Discover · Covent Garden
Best Restaurants, Bars and Things to Do in Covent Garden, London
Covent Garden is one of London's most visited neighbourhoods, sitting between the West End theatre district and the Strand, and covering the streets around the famous market piazza and the surrounding blocks of Long Acre, Neal Street and the Seven Dials junction. The area has a higher concentration of restaurants and bars than almost anywhere else in central London, ranging from longstanding pre-theatre dining rooms to independent cafes, cocktail bars and some of the city's best-known brunch spots. Creators on Lets Discover have recommended dozens of venues across Covent Garden, covering restaurants, bars, coffee shops and cultural venues.
What's on in Covent Garden
Upcoming events at venues in the area
Thu 19 Feb to Mon 4 May
Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting
National Portrait Gallery
* __Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting__ | National Portrait Gallery | until 4 May * The NPG shows how Freud's drawings fed his paint. Dense, private, difficult. Looking takes time; time is what he demanded.
Tickets available
Thu 5 Mar to Sun 31 May
Catherine Opie: To Be Seen
National Portrait Gallery
* __Catherine Opie: To Be Seen__ | National Portrait Gallery | 5 Mar–31 May * The American photographer's portraits of queerness and community hang in the same galleries that once displayed kings. The contrast is the point.
Tickets available
Fri 27 Mar to Sat 11 Jul
Kinky Boots
London Coliseum
* __Kinky Boots__ | London Coliseum | See website | Various * the multi-award-winning musical starring johannes radebe and matt cardle, now in its west end run at the coliseum. sequins, soul and sturdy footwear.
Tickets available
Sun 3 May
Total Eclipse: Symphonic Steinman
London Coliseum
* __Total Eclipse: Symphonic Steinman__ | London Coliseum | See website | 19:30 * bat out of hell, total eclipse of the heart, i'd do anything for love — jim steinman's greatest hits played by a full orchestra. one night only.
Tickets available
Sun 10 May
Covent Garden May Fayre & Puppet Festival
St Paul’s Church Covent Garden
* __Covent Garden May Fayre & Puppet Festival__ | St Paul's Church Covent Garden | Sun 10 May, Free * The UK's oldest puppet festival starts with a brass-band procession and a Mr Punch service, then spills into the churchyard for Punch & Judy, workshops and maypole dancing. Three hundred and sixty years of the same joke — still landing.
Tickets available
Fri 29 May
Evening Late: Catherine Opie – To Be Seen
National Portrait Gallery
* __Evening Late: Catherine Opie – To Be Seen__ | National Portrait Gallery | Free | 18:30 * a gallery-wide celebration of queer joy, expression and creativity after hours at the npg. one of the best free evenings in london this spring.
Tickets available
Sat 30 May
Eid on the Square
Trafalgar Square
* __Eid on the Square__ | Trafalgar Square | Sat 30 May, Free * The Mayor of London's annual Eid al-Adha celebration fills Trafalgar Square with live entertainment, community stalls and family activities. One of the most joyful days in the London calendar — and it costs nothing to attend.
Tickets available
Fri 5 Jun
Performance: Marilyn and Bruno Bernard
National Portrait Gallery
* __Performance: Marilyn and Bruno Bernard__ | National Portrait Gallery | From £12 | 19:00 * a live performance built around the private friendship between marilyn monroe and photographer bruno bernard. intimate, cinematic, unlike anything else on.
Tickets available
Creator picks in Covent Garden
Verified recommendations from Lets Discover creators
About Covent Garden
Covent Garden rewards the people who know where to look. The piazza and its immediate surroundings draw enormous tourist footfall, but the streets that fan out from it contain some of the best independent dining and drinking in central London. Neal Street, Endell Street, Floral Street and the Seven Dials cluster each have their own character and their own concentration of venues worth knowing.
The neighbourhood has changed significantly in recent years. Pre-theatre dining still anchors much of the area's food identity, but a newer generation of restaurants, natural wine bars and specialty coffee shops has built alongside it without displacing it. You can find a serious tasting menu and an excellent flat white within a few minutes of each other, which is not something every part of London can offer.
The Lets Discover creators who cover Covent Garden tend to eat across the West End regularly and know the area's restaurant map in detail. Their picks are drawn from genuine repeat visits rather than single occasions, which means the recommendations hold up across different days and different moods.
The food scene in Covent Garden is anchored by a few distinct clusters. The Seven Dials area, where seven streets converge north of the piazza, has become one of the strongest concentrations of independent restaurants in the West End, with everything from Japanese and Korean to modern European and Middle Eastern cooking. Neal's Yard, tucked off Shorts Gardens, is one of the most photographed corners of London and also home to some worthwhile cafes and independent shops. Long Acre and Bow Street are stronger for pre-theatre options, while the streets around Floral Street offer a slightly quieter alternative to the main drag.
History and culture in Covent Garden
Covent Garden has been a centre of London life since the mid-17th century, when Inigo Jones designed the Italianate piazza for the fourth Earl of Bedford. It quickly became London's primary fruit and vegetable market, a role it held for over three hundred years until the market relocated to Nine Elms in 1974. The market's departure prompted an early experiment in urban regeneration, with the Victorian market buildings converted into shops, restaurants and the Jubilee Market Hall that remain today. The neighbourhood has a rich theatrical history stretching back centuries: the Royal Opera House on Bow Street has stood in various forms since 1732, and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is one of the oldest continuously operating theatres in the world. The area was also home to the original Bow Street Magistrates Court and the Bow Street Runners, widely considered the precursor to the Metropolitan Police.
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