The W1D line: Piccadilly Circus escorts for the hours after the curtain

Booking around a curtain time

Tell the house the theatre and the curtain time, not only the hotel. A companion joining you for the performance should be booked from about an hour before curtain up, which covers a drink and finding the seats; a companion for after the show, asked for by the interval at the latest, can have her booking begin as the curtain falls, and meets you at the supper table or at the hotel.

Tickets are yours to buy, and if she is coming to the show, buy two seats together. Most productions run between two and a half and three hours with the interval, so the four hour dinner date at £900 takes in a drink beforehand, the show and a short supper, while three hours at £700 suits a guest who only wants the evening after.

The stalls, the interval and the dress

West End theatres no longer keep a dress code, and she dresses for the level of the evening rather than the room: smart enough for a hotel bar afterwards, never so formal that it reads as a gala. At the interval, drinks ordered before the show are waiting at the bar, which saves the queue and leaves time to talk about the first half.

Where supper happens after ten

Brasserie Zédel on Sherwood Street, two minutes from the fountain, serves late in a grand basement room and is the simplest choice after a show. The bar of the hotel in the courtyard off Great Windmill Street is quieter. The gilded corner building on Regent Street keeps its 1865 room open for a late glass. For a guest who would rather eat back in Mayfair, the kitchens along Piccadilly and Mount Street will hold a late table if it is asked for in the afternoon.

From the theatre to the room

At a quarter past ten Piccadilly Circus station is at its busiest and the taxi ranks empty within minutes. The better way back to a Mayfair or St James's hotel is on foot: west along Piccadilly past Fortnum's and the arcade, about fifteen minutes to Green Park, or south down Haymarket to Pall Mall and the clubs of St James's. Two hotels sit almost at the stage doors, one on Jermyn Street and the former bank on Waterloo Place, each under five minutes away.

She usually reaches a hotel near the Circus about an hour after the reply, and longer while the theatres are emptying onto the pavements. Your full name and room number go to the house on WhatsApp before she sets out, and the fee is handed to her in person when you meet.

The same evening, minute by minute

19:00, she meets you in the bar of the gilded corner on Regent Street. 19:20, down Regent Street and along to the theatre. 19:30, curtain up. 20:45, the interval, drinks already on the bar. 22:10, curtain down and a short walk to Sherwood Street for supper and a verdict on the second act. 23:00, the evening ends at the brasserie door or back at the hotel. Four hours, the dinner date at £900.

Who books for the theatre

Visitors who come to London partly for the stage and see two or three shows in a week. Business travellers with one free evening, a pair of tickets bought on impulse and nobody to use the second. Guests who find a performance the easiest possible first meeting: two hours in which nobody has to make conversation, followed by a supper in which there is suddenly a great deal to say.

Companions who like a late start

The companions based in Soho and Covent Garden live minutes from the theatres. Jasmin, petite with long chestnut hair, is happiest when an evening starts after the show. Molly, with long wavy dark hair, likes a booking that begins at ten or later. Nancy, golden blonde, and Tina both come from Covent Garden and know the eastern end of Shaftesbury Avenue well. For the performance itself, Lea from Belgravia is quietly theatrical company.

Beyond the theatres

Piccadilly runs west from here to the arcade and the park. St James's lies south down Haymarket, and Mayfair begins west of Regent Street.