Where Do Footballers Go Out in London? Clubs and Restaurants

London is home to more top-flight football clubs than any other city in the country: Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Brentford are all based here. So where do footballers go out in London? The short answer is the same small circuit that most of London's well-known faces use: a late dinner at a party restaurant in Mayfair, then a table at one of a handful of West End clubs. We arrange tables at these clubs every week, so this guide sticks to what is practical: which venues, which nights, and how the door works if you want to go out in the same places.

The short answer

• Clubs: Tape (Hanover Square, Mayfair), Cirque le Soir (Ganton Street, Carnaby), Reign (Piccadilly) and Maddox (Mill Street, Mayfair), with Rex Rooms on the King's Road for a Chelsea night.
• Restaurants: Bagatelle, Sexy Fish and Amazónico, all in Mayfair, where a dinner often turns into a party before anyone moves on to a club.
• Where they sit: at a table, not at the bar. Players rarely queue or stand on the dance floor; they book a table, usually in the busier part of the room.

The clubs footballers go out at

These are the clubs most associated with footballers and other sports names in London. The nights and hours below come from our own venue listings.

Tape

Tape on Hanover Square is the club most often named when people ask where footballers go out in London. The music leans hip hop and RnB, which suits a lot of players, and the room is built around tables, so the busiest tables near the DJ are where the well-known groups tend to sit. Tables start from about £750, and the guestlist is for ladies only. Little Tape, next door at the same address, carries on until 5:30am on Friday and Saturday.

Cirque le Soir

Cirque le Soir is a circus-themed club off Carnaby Street, known for performers who move through the room all night. Its layout puts large tables close to the action rather than in a closed-off section, so it feels more sociable than most West End clubs. Note that it is in Carnaby, a short walk from Mayfair, not in Mayfair itself.

Reign

Reign on Piccadilly is a showclub with dancers and live performance, and it is one of the few big West End rooms that opens on a Thursday as well as at the weekend. Like Tape, the tables in the busier sections are where you are most likely to see a recognisable group.

Maddox

Maddox on Mill Street is the late option: it runs until 6am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so it is often where a night that started elsewhere finishes. It is age 20+.

Rex Rooms

Rex Rooms on the King's Road is the Chelsea alternative for anyone who would rather not head into the West End. Our Rex Rooms guestlist guide covers how its door works.

The restaurants where the night starts

A lot of footballers' nights out in London begin at a party restaurant: dinner from about 9pm, DJs and a livelier room as the evening goes on, then on to a club after midnight.

• Bagatelle in Mayfair is the best-known party dinner in London, an international brand with a long celebrity and sports following.
• Sexy Fish on Berkeley Square is a late-night bar and restaurant that stays busy well after dinner.
• Amazónico, also on Berkeley Square, has live music and a late bar.

We do not arrange reservations at these restaurants: each one takes its own bookings. Our guides above explain how each one works on a busy night.

When footballers go out

The football calendar decides it. Players in season rarely go out the night before a match, so the busiest nights for sports names in the West End tend to follow a weekend fixture, fall during an international break for those not called up, or come at the end of the season in late May and June. Over Christmas, when the fixture list is at its busiest, footballers are much less likely to be out. If you are hoping to see players out, a Saturday after a home weekend or the first weeks after the season ends are the likeliest times, but nothing is guaranteed: well-known guests do not announce where they are going.

How to get in where footballers go out

Being where footballers go out is not about being famous: the door applies the same rules to everyone, and even professional athletes get turned away. In 2017 Mixmag reported that a group of visiting NFL players was refused at Cirque le Soir despite a reservation; the club's response was that full discretion always lies with the door and that it particularly discourages casual dress, intoxicated customers and male-heavy groups. Those three points are still what decides most nights:

• Book a table for a male group. At all five clubs above the guestlist is for ladies or female-led mixed groups. A group of men without a table will struggle to get in on a Friday or Saturday. Our guide to table prices in Mayfair and London clubs explains how the spend works.
• Dress up. All of these clubs expect a smart, elegant look: no sportswear, no football shirts and no tracksuits, which is the one irony of a night where footballers go out. Our London club dress code guide has the details.
• Arrive in good time. Arriving between 11pm and midnight makes the door far easier than turning up at 1am; see how early you should arrive at a London nightclub.
• Women's groups can usually go on the guestlist instead: our London nightclub guestlist guide explains how it works.

Etiquette if you see a player

Clubs at this level protect their guests. Do not walk up to a table you are not on, do not ask for selfies, and do not film other tables: staff will step in quickly, and some rooms in the West End have strict no-photography rules. If you want a chance of being near the action, the honest answer is a well-placed table, not a photo request.

For more on famous faces in London nightlife, see what club celebrities go to in London and the best celebrity clubs in London.

Plan a night where footballers go out

If you would like a table at Tape, Cirque le Soir, Reign, Maddox or Rex Rooms, get in touch with your date, group size and the mix of guys and girls, or browse all the clubs on our London nightclub page.