Living in London is great as there is always something to see or do.
Which can also be a problem for your bank balance too. And that’s before paying your expensive rent/mortgage.
But living in London and not making the most of it is a waste.
Here are my tips for saving money living in London on tickets and entertainment.
>>> See more of my best London food discount apps <<<
Cheap Cinema tickets in London
If you don’t go to the cinema often enough (roughly three times a month) to warrant the purchase of a cinema membership, you’ll be glad to know the casual cinema goer can still save money.
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On Monday’s, the Barbican reduce their cinema tickets to £6. For every other day, Fever have discount cinema tickets for £7.50.
And House of Vans have free film screenings.
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Cheap Theatre tickets in London
Queuing Up For Day Tickets
I’ve queued up early for day tickets just once. I was incredibly unlucky as I turned up 2 1/2 hours before the ticket booths were open and I was about 30th in the queue (this was for Lieutenant of Inishmore two weeks before it closed). Theatre’s will tend to save the front row to sell as cheap day seats so you could end up with a great seat for under £20.
But my ticket only cost £10 compared to the remaining seats left at £60. You can check #dayseats on Twitter to get updates on how early you need to queue up.
TodayTix App
I’ve bought many theatre tickets using the TodayTix app. They never sell restricted seats (I bought one for Lieutenant of Inishmore and regret it still) but often have sales and discount on great seats, even in the stalls. I sat in the front row of Brief Encounter for £20.
They have a system called Rush Tickets which allow you to buy discounted tickets for that day, avoiding having to queue up early if you have a regular 9 to 5 job like me. You can’t select your seat as they’re allocated to you (you can see where they are before purchasing though).
It’s also a great way of keeping up with the theatre scene in London and seeing what’s coming on next.
Stage Door app
Another fantastic theatre app you’ll definitely want to download.
Why? It has reviews from legendary theatre critic Lynn Gardener! So you’ll always know what’s worth going to see.
The app is cleverly separated into genres like musicals, LGBT and staff picks, as well as the deals on theatre tickets.
Get the app – https://stagedoorapp.com
Cheap Gig tickets in London
Dice app
I go to about 20-30 gigs a year, so I spend at least £40 on booking fees.
Dice don’t charge booking fees. All the tickets you buy are on the app, avoiding the hassle of printing (and saving a tree in the process). Their gig recommendations based on what you’ve bought previously are usually pretty spot on too.
If an event is sold out and you can’t make it, there is usually a small window of time where you can put your ticket back on the app for resale. And vice versa, if you’ve missed out on buying a ticket, you can join the waiting list and you’ll be notified if a ticket becomes available.
Hello the future of ticket buying (not just for gigs, hopefully).
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Other Events and Entertainment
Design My Night
For all other entertainment, Design My Night is pretty good if you’re stuck for ideas.
When you buy tickets from them, you accrue loyalty points which you can then use to pay for tickets in the future.
Culture Whisper
It’s also worth looking at signing up to Culture Whisper for £85 a month. You’ll receive two free tickets every month plus discounts on other events. Usually the cost of the free tickets are more than the £7 you pay a month for the membership. For example, at the time of writing, the V&A’s Videogames exhibition is £18 a ticket (free with Culture Whisper).
Ava Experience
For a mix of discount on food and events, check out Ava Experience.
Ava Experience works via bidding auction system, kind of like eBay. You have three bids a day and you have to outbid others in order to win.
I won a haircut experience for less than 50%.
What are your tips for saving money on food and entertainment in London? Tell me in the comments section below!
