Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THEATRE, PUPPETRY AND CIRCUSES
Shows that appeal to children play in the West End all the time. What follows is a pretty selective rundown of theatre,
puppetry and circuses that are consistently aimed at kids.
Half Moon Young People's Theatre
43 White Horse
Rd, E1
T
020 7709 8900,
W
halfmoon.org.uk;
Limehouse DLR or
!
Stepney Green.
Well-established
theatre that hosts touring youth shows, puts on its own
productions and runs a programme of workshops and
theatre sessions for over-5s. Oct-April Sat 11.30am & 2pm;
all tickets £6.
Little Angel Puppet Theatre
14 Dagmar Passage, off
Cross St, N1
T
020 7226 1787,
W
littleangeltheatre
.com;
!
Angel
. Puppet theatre, which specializes in
table-top, rod and glove puppetry, with shows usually on
Saturdays and Sundays at 11am and 2pm. Extra
performances during holidays. Adults £12, children £10. All
tickets £5 on Fridays.
Polka Theatre
240 The Broadway, SW19
T
020 8543
4888,
W
polkatheatre.com;
!
Wimbledon or South
Wimbledon.
Aimed at kids aged up to 12, this is a specially
designed junior arts centre, with two theatres, a playground,
a café and a toyshop. Storytellers, puppeteers and mime
artists make regular appearances. Tickets from £10.
Puppet Theatre Barge
Little Venice, W2
T
020 7249
6876,
T
07836 202745,
W
puppetbarge.com;
!
Warwick Avenue.
Wonderfully imaginative string
marionette shows on a unique fifty-seat barge moored in
Little Venice from October to July, and at Richmond in
August and September. Shows start around 3pm at
weekends and in the holidays. Adults £10, children £8.50.
Unicorn Theatre
147 Tooley St, SE1
T
020 7645 0560,
W
unicorntheatre.com;
!
London Bridge.
The oldest
professional children's theatre in London lives in modern,
purpose-built premises near City Hall in Southwark. Shows
run the gamut from storytelling sessions and traditional
plays to creative-writing workshops and mime and
puppetry. Tickets from £10.
Zippo's Circus
T
0871 210 2100,
W
zippos.co.uk.
Zippo's
Circus performs in and around London for much of the year.
It's a totally traditional, big-top circus offering a variety of
standard acts from clowning and tightrope walking to
acrobatic budgies and equine tricks, compered by an old-
fashioned ringmaster. Adults £7-20, children £5-16.
32
PARKS
Right in the centre of the city, there are plentiful green
spaces, such as
St James's Park
(see p.67) and
Regent's
Park
(see p.283), providing playgrounds and ample room
for general mayhem, as well as a diverting array of city
wildlife. If you want something more unusual than ducks
and squirrels, head for one of London's several
city farms
(see p.442), which provide urbanites with a free taste of
country life. Below is a list of the best parks and playgrounds.
Battersea Park
Albert Bridge Rd, SW11
T
020 8871
7539 (playground),
W
batterseapark.org; Battersea
Park or Queenstown Road train station from Victoria.
The park has an excellent free adventure playground, a
boating lake and a children's zoo (see p.271).
Park: daily
8am to dusk; free.
Playground: phone for times; free.
Zoo: summer daily 10am-5.30pm; winter closes
4.30pm; adults £8.75, children under 16 £6.50.
Camley Street Natural Park
12 Camley St, NW1
T
020 7833 2311,
W
wildlondon.org.uk;
!
King's
Cross St Pancras.
Canalside wildlife haven, run by the
London Wildlife Trust, with pond dipping and a good info
centre. See p.129.
Summer daily 10am-5.30pm; winter
closes 4.30pm.
Free.
Coram's Fields
93 Guilford St, WC1
T
020 7837 6138,
W
coramsfields.org;
!
Russell Square.
Very useful,
centrally located playground with lots of water and sand play
plus mini-farm with hens, rabbits, sheep, goats and ducks.
MUSEUMS
Museums
are an obvious diversion and many of the big museums are free of charge. The
Science Museum
(see p.257), the
Natural History Museum
(see p.260) and the
National
Maritime Museum
(see p.317), in particular, have hi-tech, hands-on sections that will keep
young kids busy for hours, and they might even learn something while they're at it. At the
other end of the scale, the
London Dungeon
(see p.232) and
Madame Tussauds
, with its
infamous Chamber of Horrors (see p.93), remain very popular with teenagers, but are among
the most expensive sights in the entire city.
Smaller museums specifically designed with children in mind include the
Horniman
Museum
(see p.313), which houses an aquarium, and the
Kew Bridge Steam Museum
,
which runs a miniature steam train on Sundays throughout the summer (see p.333). There are
also museums devoted to childhood and toys, from the atmospheric
Pollock's Toy Museum
(see p.104) to the much larger V&A outpost, the
Museum of Childhood
(see p.202).
