You want a proper cabaret night, sequins, a live band, maybe a burlesque act, not just a comedian with a microphone or a table at a nightclub. Searches for cabarets in London pull in nearly 9,500 combined Google reviews across venues that are not all cabaret at all, so here's an honest read on which ones are genuine cabaret and variety, and which just share a search term.
Short answer: Phoenix Arts Club is the truest cabaret-club format on this list, rating 4.8 across 1,705 reviews with nightly drag, burlesque and variety shows from £15. Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse (4.6, 4,692 reviews) is the immersive West End production of Cabaret. The 99 Club is stand-up comedy, and Platinum Lace and Dear Darling are an adult entertainment venue and a nightclub respectively, not stage cabaret.
#1 Overall
Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre
4.6★★★★★4,692 Google reviews
Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre is the venue for the West End's immersive staging of the musical Cabaret, reworked into a club-style set with performers and bars woven through the building before the show even starts. It's operated by ATG Tickets and has been running at the Playhouse for an extended residency.
What people praise
- Pre-show experience, complimentary schnapps, in-character performers, gets praised as much as the show itself
- Lead performances singled out by name repeatedly, including Matt Willis and Katie Hall
- Genuinely strong accessibility accommodations, including cleared sightlines and adjusted seating for a wheelchair user's 18th birthday visit
- Close-up staging described as more immersive than a standard theatre seat
Worth knowing
- One visitor described some confusion finding their way between the venue's different bar areas at the start of the night, with mixed guidance from staff
Reputation scorecardrank in London
Review volume4,692 · 98th
Rating breakdown77% 5-star
✓ VerifiedSource: Google
Our take: By far the biggest review base on this list, and the rating holds up well for a venue that size. This is genuine cabaret in the theatrical sense, an immersive musical rather than a traditional stage cabaret night, but it earns its place here.
📍Northumberland Ave, London WC2N 5DE
#2🕑 Open 7 days
Phoenix Arts Club
4.8★★★★★1,705 Google reviews
Phoenix Arts Club is a Soho cabaret club running nightly multi-act variety shows, drag, burlesque, aerial and comedy, and has been operating for more than 35 years. Tickets start from around £15, with yearly membership available from £150, and the venue turns into a late-night bar for the West End's theatre and entertainment crowd after the show.
What people praise
- Genuinely varied nightly lineups, drag to burlesque to aerial to comedy, rather than a single fixed act
- Intimate, cosy venue repeatedly described as adding to the atmosphere rather than detracting from it
- Affordable entry point from £15, making it accessible compared to West End theatre pricing
- Named compere and performers (Michael, Jack) singled out specifically for skill and energy
Worth knowing
- Being a small, intimate club, it can feel snug for larger group bookings
Reputation scorecardrank in London
Review volume1,705 · 88th
Info completenesssite · phone · hours
Rating breakdown84% 5-star
✓ VerifiedSource: Google
Our take: This is the closest thing on the list to classic stage cabaret, in genre and format both. The rating is the highest here, and the reviews describe exactly what the search term implies.
📍1 Phoenix St, London WC2H 8BU
#3🕑 Open 7 days↩ Responds to reviews
The 99 Club - Leicester Square
4.4★★★★★1,503 Google reviews
The 99 Club is a Leicester Square comedy club running nightly stand-up lineups of touring professional comedians, and has won Best London Comedy Club at the Chortle Awards for ten years running. It's comedy in format, not cabaret or variety, and shows up in this search likely because of shared nightlife search terms.
What people praise
- Staff praised for accommodating accessibility needs, including reserved front seating for a partially sighted visitor
- Diverse, mixed-age crowd noted approvingly by more than one reviewer
- Affordable tickets, with published shows from around £10-22
- Consistently funny lineups, with individual comedians named and praised
Worth knowing
- Uncomfortable, cramped seating reported by more than one reviewer, worse toward the front of the room
- Shared toilet facilities described as poorly maintained in at least one review, including a blocked toilet
Reputation scorecardrank in London
Review volume1,503 · 83th
Info completenesssite · phone · hours
Rating breakdown66% 5-star
✓ VerifiedSource: Google
Our take: A strong comedy club on its own terms, but it's worth being clear that this is stand-up, not cabaret. If you specifically want a variety or burlesque-style night, look to Phoenix Arts Club instead.
📍2A Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0HF
#4🕑 Open 7 days↩ Responds to reviews
Platinum Lace
4.6★★★★★915 Google reviews
Platinum Lace is a strip club and adult entertainment venue on Coventry Street in Piccadilly, describing itself on its own site as home to strip clubs and lap dancers rather than a stage cabaret or variety show. It's included here because Google groups it under overlapping nightlife search terms, but it's a different category of venue from the others on this list.
What people praise
- Named hosts and staff (Martina, Anna, Maz) praised repeatedly for attentiveness
- Central Piccadilly location
- One customer received a complimentary VIP card for a return visit
Worth knowing
- More than one reviewer described high drink prices, including £40 for two tequila shots
- Inconsistent staff attentiveness reported by at least one reviewer, along with one billing dispute that needed resolving through the customer's bank
Reputation scorecardrank in London
Info completenesssite · phone · hours
Rating breakdown85% 5-star
✓ VerifiedSource: Google
Our take: Worth knowing upfront that this is an adult entertainment venue, not a stage cabaret show, before booking on the strength of the search term alone.
📍13 Coventry St, Piccadilly, London W1D 7DH
#5🕑 Open 4 days/wk
Dear Darling
4.6★★★★★704 Google reviews
Dear Darling is a late-night bar, lounge and private member's club in St James's, Mayfair, operating primarily as a nightclub rather than a dedicated cabaret venue. A small number of reviewers mention dancers or performance elements as part of the night out, but the core offering is table service, cocktails and a club atmosphere.
What people praise
- High-energy Mayfair nightclub atmosphere praised consistently across reviews
- Staff and promoters named and thanked individually by multiple reviewers (Pritesh, Sophia, Connor)
- Good for larger group bookings and table reservations
- Central, upmarket St James's location
Worth knowing
- Only open Thursday through Sunday late nights, so it's not an option for a weeknight booking
- A handful of one-star reviews exist among an otherwise heavily five-star pattern, worth checking recent feedback directly
Reputation scorecardrank in London
Info completenesssite · phone · hours
Rating breakdown88% 5-star
✓ VerifiedSource: Google
Our take: A strong Mayfair nightlife pick with some performance elements mentioned by guests, but it's a nightclub first. Treat this as a table and cocktails night out rather than a cabaret show.
📍91 Jermyn St, London SW1Y 6JB
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Claim this spot › How we score these venues
Every score is pulled from that venue’s live Google listing, the star rating averages all customer reviews, and review volume shows how many people actually left one. Confidence blends both, and recency checks how current the feedback is. No venue can pay to move these numbers, and we’ve flagged above which listings genuinely match cabaret as a format.
What does a cabaret night out cost in London?
Prices vary hugely by format, a stand-up comedy ticket costs far less than an immersive West End production, and nightclub table service or an adult entertainment venue runs on a completely different pricing model again. The figures below come from each venue’s own published ticket prices where available.
| Job | Typical price |
|---|
| Phoenix Arts Club, standard ticket | from £15 |
| The 99 Club, standard show ticket | from £10-22 |
Starting prices as published on each venue’s own official website, July 2026. Kit Kat Club, Platinum Lace and Dear Darling don’t publish a standard headline ticket or entry price.
Cabaret, comedy and nightlife across London
All five sit within the West End, spanning Charing Cross, Soho, Leicester Square, Piccadilly and St James’s, so they’re realistically all within a 15 to 20 minute walk of each other. If you’re searching for cabaret near me further out from Central London, most boroughs will have a local comedy club or pub function room running occasional variety nights, though nothing on the scale of these West End venues.
What to check before you book a cabaret night out
- Is this a stage cabaret and variety show, a comedy club, or a nightclub, given how loosely the term gets used?
- What’s included in the ticket price, food, a welcome drink, or just entry?
- Is the venue accessible, and can accessibility needs be flagged in advance?
- Is there a dress code or minimum age requirement?
- What are the actual opening nights and hours, since several of these venues don’t run every day?
- Is table service and a minimum spend required, particularly at nightclub-style venues?
Frequently asked questions
Are these rankings paid?
No. Rankings come from public Google data. A business can pay to be a Featured Partner (badge and top placement), but that never changes another business’s score or position.
Which of these is genuinely a cabaret venue?
Phoenix Arts Club is the closest match to classic stage cabaret and variety, with nightly drag, burlesque, aerial and comedy acts. Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse is the immersive West End musical Cabaret. The other three are a comedy club, an adult entertainment venue and a nightclub respectively.
How did you choose these five?
We compared venues that surface for cabarets in London, weighing star rating against review volume, and we’ve been upfront above about which ones don’t actually match the cabaret format.
How often is this list updated?
We last verified ratings and review counts in July 2026. Opening nights and ticket prices change, so check each venue’s own site before booking.
Is Kit Kat Club the same as a traditional cabaret show?
Not exactly. It’s an immersive West End staging of the musical Cabaret, with club-style theming and pre-show entertainment, rather than a stand-alone variety cabaret night like Phoenix Arts Club.
The verdict
For a genuine cabaret and variety night out, Phoenix Arts Club is the real deal and the highest rated venue here. If you want theatre-scale spectacle instead, Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse delivers that, just know it’s a big-budget musical production rather than an intimate cabaret club.
