Experiences
The 10 Best Candlelight Concerts in London
Vivaldi and film scores by the glow of a thousand candles, in London's most atmospheric churches and halls.
In short: our top picks are Banqueting House, Southwark Cathedral and The Great Hall at Barts. 10 places in total, chosen on merit, with the full reasoning below.
Candlelight concerts are now one of London’s most reliable good nights out: a string quartet or small ensemble, a programme running from the Four Seasons to Hans Zimmer, and a room lit by hundreds of flameless candles. The music is much the same wherever you book it, which makes the room the whole decision, and the rooms range from a Gothic cathedral nave to a Palladian hall with a Rubens ceiling. Eleven London venues host them at the time of writing. These are the ones worth choosing, in order, and what each one is actually like to sit in.
| Place | Area | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Banqueting House | Whitehall | |
| Southwark Cathedral | Southwark | |
| The Great Hall at Barts | Smithfield | |
| St Martin-in-the-Fields | Trafalgar Square | |
| Cadogan Hall | Chelsea | |
| St Mary-le-Strand | Strand | |
| 1901 Arts Club | Waterloo | |
| St James's Church Piccadilly | Piccadilly | |
| Central Hall Westminster | Westminster | |
| Union Chapel | Islington | ££ |
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Editor’s choice
Banqueting House
Why we pick itInigo Jones began it in 1619 and finished in 1622, and in 1636 Rubens's Apotheosis of James I went in overhead: the largest surviving Rubens still in the place it was painted for, anywhere in Europe. Charles I walked beneath it to the scaffold outside on 30 January 1649. A quartet under that ceiling is the best thing on this list.
The ceiling, and nothing else like it
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Southwark Cathedral
Why we pick itGothic vaults over London's oldest cathedral church, and the acoustic the whole format is borrowed from: strings bloom here in a way they cannot in a hall. Vivaldi and film scores both suit it, and the candles do most of the work.
Best acoustics, best nave
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The Great Hall at Barts
Why we pick itJames Gibbs built the North Wing in 1732, and the stair carries Hogarth's Pool of Bethesda and Good Samaritan, painted in 1736 and 1737 without a fee because he was furious the hospital had considered Italian painters. The hall's ceiling is the only identified British work by the plasterer Jean Baptiste St Michele, and the wing reopened after restoration that put the murals in front of the public for the first time in nearly 300 years.
Hogarth on the stairs
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St Martin-in-the-Fields
Why we pick itThe church that made candlelit classical a London habit long before the format had a name, and still the most central of them. Expect a full room and a programme that leans popular.
The Trafalgar Square standard
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Cadogan Hall
Why we pick itBuilt in 1907 as a Christian Science church by Robert Fellowes Chisholm and now a 950-seat hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra resident, which makes it the best room on this list for hearing the music properly. It is also the least atmospheric: a concert hall lit by candles is still a concert hall.
For the playing, not the atmosphere
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St Mary-le-Strand
Why we pick itA baroque jewel box marooned on its island in the Strand, small enough that the Four Seasons feels like chamber music rather than a performance. Book it for the intimacy, not the legroom.
The jewel box
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1901 Arts Club
Why we pick itA converted schoolmaster's house behind Waterloo, decorated as a European salon and built around a Steinway grand, seating a few dozen at most. The programmes here run to things like Chopin and champagne at around £45, which is the top of the price range and the smallest audience you will sit in.
The most intimate room of the eleven
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St James's Church Piccadilly
Why we pick itWren's church off Piccadilly, a regular host and an easy one to combine with dinner in Mayfair or Soho. Less spectacular than the cathedral or the hall, but never a wasted evening.
Wren, and central
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Central Hall Westminster
Why we pick itA grand domed hall beside the Abbey, and where the larger ensembles and orchestral tributes go when a church cannot hold them. Sit forward: the scale that makes it useful also makes the back rows remote.
The big ensembles
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Union Chapel
Why we pick itA working Victorian chapel and Grade I listed gig venue in Islington, with the best sound of any church on this list and a balcony that looks down on the players.
Worth knowingCandlelight dates here are occasional rather than regular, so check the calendar before planning an evening around it.
Worth it when a date exists
Before you book
Concerts run around 60 to 75 minutes with no interval, tickets go through Fever, and prices currently run from about £9 to £45 depending on the venue and the programme. Seating is usually unallocated within a tier, so arriving early is worth more than paying up a tier: the front of a cheaper block often beats the back of a dearer one. The churches and the cathedral get cold, even in summer, so take a layer. Two further venues, Banking Hall in the City and Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, also appear in the programme from time to time.
Common questions
What are the best candlelight concerts in London?
Banqueting House is our editor's choice: Inigo Jones began it in 1619 and finished in 1622, and in 1636 Rubens's Apotheosis of James I went in overhead: the largest surviving Rubens still in the place it was painted for, anywhere in Europe. Charles I walked beneath it to the scaffold outside on 30 January 1649. A quartet under that ceiling is the best thing on this list. Banqueting House, Southwark Cathedral and The Great Hall at Barts lead the guide, with 10 places in total, all chosen on merit.
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