The bar and cafe of the Lyric Hammersmith, one of the UK’s leading producing theatres, with a seasonal roof garden – a handy pre-show and daytime spot
The Lyric Bar holds forty-seven reviews and a 3.8 – a below-average score on a smaller sample, which we note honestly – but it occupies a genuinely special spot: the bar and cafe of the Lyric Hammersmith, one of the UK’s leading producing theatres, complete with a lovely seasonal roof garden.
The modest score, honestly noted
First, honestly: forty-seven reviews is a smaller sample, and a 3.8 sits a little below this survey’s average. We note this plainly and fairly. A theatre bar is a particular kind of venue – busy in pre-show and interval rushes, quieter otherwise – and it invites a particular kind of judgement; a below-average score on a modest sample may reflect the pressures of the theatre-crowd rush, or simply higher expectations. We note the number honestly, without dwelling on it, and turn to what makes the Lyric Bar genuinely special – its home, and its roof garden – while wishing it rising fortunes ahead.
The Lyric Hammersmith
The Lyric Bar’s great distinction is its home: the Lyric Hammersmith, one of the UK’s leading producing theatres and a genuine cultural landmark of west London. The Lyric is a wonderful institution – a leading producing theatre committed to the highest quality contemporary theatre, with a particular and admirable dedication to nurturing the creativity of young people. It has a beautiful, ornate Victorian auditorium (a genuine architectural treasure, preserved within a modern building) and a long and distinguished history at the heart of Hammersmith’s cultural life. To be the bar and cafe of such a theatre is a genuinely special thing – the warm, welcoming, cultural gathering-place at the heart of a leading theatre, buzzing with the pre-show and interval crowds, alive with the excitement and culture of the theatre. There is real appeal to it – the cultural home, the theatre buzz, the special atmosphere of the theatre bar.
The roof garden and the daytime cafe
The Lyric Bar has a genuinely lovely feature that sets it apart from the ordinary theatre bar: a seasonal roof garden, a lovely elevated green space to enjoy a drink in the warmer months – a real and unexpected delight, high above the Hammersmith bustle. And it functions as more than just a pre-show bar – it is a daytime cafe too, open beyond performance times, offering a warm and welcoming spot for a coffee, a drink or a bite, whether or not you are seeing a show. There is genuine appeal to it – the lovely seasonal roof garden, the daytime cafe, the warm cultural gathering-place, the special theatre atmosphere. It is a genuinely appealing and characterful venue – the bar and cafe of a great theatre, with a lovely roof garden, at the heart of Hammersmith’s cultural life. Whatever its modest score, its home, its roof garden and its cultural character give it genuine and special appeal.
Between its home at the leading Lyric Hammersmith theatre, its lovely seasonal roof garden, and its daytime-cafe character, the Lyric Bar is a genuinely special and characterful venue – whatever its modest score, which every busy theatre bar may suffer. The Prat’s desk enjoys a pre-show drink in the roof garden, soaks up the theatre buzz, and raises an encouraging glass to the Lyric Bar – wishing it rising fortunes ahead.
The bar
A below-average-scoring theatre bar (on a smaller sample) doing a 3.8 – the Lyric Bar, the bar and cafe of the leading Lyric Hammersmith theatre, with a lovely seasonal roof garden.
Verdict
Below-average by the numbers, but genuinely special – the Lyric Bar, the bar and cafe of a great theatre, with a lovely rooftop garden.
Have a pre-show drink at the Lyric Bar in the Lyric Hammersmith, and enjoy the roof garden – the bar and cafe of one of the UK’s leading producing theatres, with a lovely seasonal rooftop green space.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
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