Apollo Theatre

The first Edwardian theatre in London owing to the death of Queen Victoria a month before its February 1901 opening, the Apollo has remained a successful theatre ever since.

Originally sitting around 1,200, its inaugural production was the London premiere The Belle of Bohemia which ran for 72 performances. Over the years it has hosted scores of shows that fall under the banner of the four figures carved on its exterior, representing music, poetry, comedy, and dance.

Coming through the war years intact, it survived largely as built until a fateful night in 2013 saw the ceiling collapse during a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time, which injured 80 audience members and saw the theatre closed for a substantial amount of time. It re-opened in April 2014 with a run of John Tiffany's Let the Right One in and has yet to collapse again.

Top tip for vertigo sufferers - the third tier is considered the steepest in London, so the faint-hearted might benefit from sitting a little closer to the ground!