The Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces are currently being refurbished, as we work to bring you a brand new cafe, bar, shop and Ticket Office. Find out more

Purcell Room

Opening times

The Purcell Room is located in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which is open daily from 10am.

See the opening times for all our venues

Purcell Room entrance at Southbank Centre
Pete Woodhead

Welcome

The Purcell Room is an intimate, 295-seat venue for music and performance, screenings, poetry readings and a variety of talks and debates.

Commitment to emerging talent

While providing a platform for the best new and emerging talent from a range of artforms, the world-renowned venue has also played host to some of the biggest names of the 20th century and beyond, including David Bowie, Daniel Barenboim, Marianne Faithfull and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.

The auditorium is also home to Purcell Sessions – a series of gigs allowing artists the opportunity to work on new material or conceive collaborations live in front of an audience.

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Event types

    Visitor info

    Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff. 

    Check here for our current guidance

    Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.

    See the opening times for all our venues

    Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.

     Visit our Getting here page

    Pre-booking online is recommended. Check our website on the day for returns. There’s no need to print your e-ticket – just show your phone to our Visitor Assistants on entry.

    Some free events don't require a ticket. Found an event labelled FREE on our website with no way to book? Simply turn up on the day.

    If you don't receive your e-ticket

    Your e-ticket will be sent to you seven days before the event date from [email protected]. If you don't receive your e-ticket, and it's not in your junk or spam folder, please get in touch. 

    Email us

    More information

    Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.

    Frequently asked questions

    Get an overview of the seating layout of the Purcell Room by downloading our seating plan.

    Download seating plan

    Toilets

    An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.

    A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.

    The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. The phone outside the Changing Places toilet will connect you with a member of staff, who can provide you with the key. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.

    Cloakroom

    The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the venues, so please leave large bags at home.

    We're cash-free

    Please note that we're unable to accept cash payments across our site. 

    Purcell Room is located in Queen Elizabeth Hall. For step-free access please use Royal Festival Hall JCB glass lift to Level 2 and enter via Riverside Terrace.

    Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open.

    Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.

    Download step-free access map

    More about Access & facilities