Rounds of applause: where to drink before (and after) the show

I was looking for somewhere to have a pre-gig drink at London’s Hammersmith Apollo and realised just how crucial the drinks offering is near a venue. I was there to see Geese (yes, I am showing off) and my unfiltered excitement was only slightly dampened by the warm pint I ended up cradling before we made our way to the venue. This is never the case in the West End.

Stretching through Covent Garden, Leicester Square and the Strand, London’s Theatreland has existed in some form for centuries, and the bars and restaurants have adjusted accordingly. A good pre-theatre menu is serviceable, tasty and quickly served. Drinks offerings ought to be the same: no trawling through enormous lists or waiting half an hour for an overwrought cocktail. However, excellent service should never compromise on joy and taste.

Before even considering anything else nearby, Chinatown is my go-to pre-theatre. The past few embarrassingly late nights out have resulted, inevitably, in the reliable embrace of Noodle and Beer – but it’s also good earlier in the evening. While, yes, you can get your hands on a Kirin Ichiban (yum) or a Sapporo (also yum), the wine list is particularly fun. Compiled by critic and consultant Douglas Blyde, you could order half a bottle of Gosset alongside your handcut noodles. It’s rare enough to find Gosset on a list at a reasonable price, even rarer to find it by the half-bottle. Rarer still at a place you can rock up in a bandage dress. There’s also rosé from urban London winery Blackbook Winery.

If you have plans to visit Moulin Rouge!, you’ll no doubt be sitting, index finger angled over the book button, ready to get a table at the Devonshire. I might have heard somewhere that they do Guinness there? Somewhere that might not be so obvious, which I love for a delicious but serviceable pre-plan drink, is Soma. It brands itself as a speakeasy, but this overused term (let’s just call it an underground bar!) belies a genuine chicness. It’s very à la mode: brushed stainless steel and heavy velvet drape. The bar’s minimalism is continued through to the presentation of its cocktails, which are “inspired by the Indian subcontinent and beyond”. In Vedic Sanskrit, soma means to distil and extract. Get the chaat margarita, spiced with chaat masala, gooseberry and kumquat.

Last year, before a visit to My Neighbour Totoro at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, I snuck a quick glass in at the 10 Cases – so called because they only ever order 10 cases of each and any wine they list. As such, I can’t make any reliable recommendations other than it’s a bloody good vibe, especially en terrasse in the height of summer.

But if a post-theatre debrief is more your thing, the Side Hustle bar at NoMad always has something on. Open until midnight, the menu is “influenced by the flavours of Latin America”. Therefore, you’ll find lots of different tequila cocktails, Latin classics, and six different kinds of margarita. As a woman who loves coriander, my favourite thing to order here, bar none, is the Sergeant Pepper: a short drink, with green peppers, jalepeño, coriander, pineapple and lime.

For wine, visit Town on Drury Lane, also open to midnight. The wine list, initially compiled by sommelier Donald Edwards, has a real approachability. I adore it when longer lists are laid out by style, to help anyone who picks it up order something they love. “Bold, classic, concentrated reds”? Or maybe you’d like an “aromatic, green” white? Perhaps we ought to go straight for “The only rosé you’ll ever need”? And quick decision means more time to talk theatre.