Royal Albert Hall

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  • Address
    Kensington Gore, Kensington, SW7
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  • Phone
    7589 8212
  • Website
  • Transport
    underground rail: South Kensington

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Lonely Planet review

This huge, domed, redbrick amphitheatre adorned with a frieze of Minton tiles is Britain's most famous concert venue. The home of the BBC's Promenade Concerts (or 'Proms') every summer, it was ironically never meant to be a concert venue. Instead, this 1871 memorial to Queen Victoria's husband was intended as a hall of arts and sciences.

Consequently it spent the first 133 years of its existence tormenting concert performers and audiences with its terrible acoustics. It was said that a piece played here was assured of an immediate second hearing, so bad was the reverberation around the oval structure. A massive refurbishment was completed in 2004, however, installing air-conditioning, modernising the backstage areas, moving the entrance to the south of the building and fixing the acoustics. You can take a 45-minute guided tour (tours hourly - Fri-Tue) of the hall.

If the classical Proms aren't your thing, there's pop, some rock and world music concerts here too, as well as circus and book readings.