East London Food & Culture

Sadlers Wells East

A first peek inside Sadler’s Wells East – and what’s on the menu

The season's big new East Bank opening is here. Plus a look at what you can eat too

Back in autumn 2023, I enjoyed a serendipitous moment walking through the Olympic Park. Lo and behold, the first part of the £600million East Bank waterfront development had just opened that morning.

As I wrote at the time, it was a thrill to step inside and explore the galleries at UAL’s new London College Of Fashion campus, which I’d watched steadily rise up over the last decade. Even more impressive are the views from the elevated stone and wood-clad steps leading down to the towpath.

Fast forward to this week and I attended the press preview of UAL’s neighbour, Sadler’s Wells East, which officially launches in February. Designed by Irish architects O’Donnell + Tuomey and built in Italian red brick, it’s the first public venue to open here, to be followed by BBC Music Studios and V&A East Museum, and houses a theatre, six dance studios, educational facilities, a free public performance space, a restaurant and bar.

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Sadlers Wells East
Sadlers Wells East auditorium. Photos: SE
First thoughts? Its entrance illuminated by the sign, You Are Welcome, the double-height ground floor foyer is huge, with plenty of tables in the café to sit with a coffee and laptop – once a freelancer, always a freelancer – while there’s also a fancier restaurant, more of which below. The whole space is lit by rows of bare bulbs and given a shot of life by two colourful large-scale Eva Rothschild tapestries (make sure you look up as you enter from the waterfront side).

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Upstairs is the sweep of the 550-seater auditorium with the “longest curve seating in Europe”, said one of the friendly staff. On the top two floors are vast mirrored studios and rehearsal spaces, where we glimpsed the cast working on the nightclub-themed opening show Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s Our Mighty Groove. A roof terrace offers panoramic views over the London Aquatics Centre, Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit, the stadium and park.

Sadlers Wells East
The rehearsal spaces.
Encouragingly, there’s a firm emphasis on working with the local boroughs and community, which, of course, means Waltham Forest and Newham predominantly. Its opening season features twenty productions, much of it showcasing work from east-London based artists, as well as national and international stars. And they’re keen to promote all kinds of dance – not just ballet – and so hip hop enjoys equal prominence with, say, Indian classical dance kathak. The venue even houses a hip hop theatre school called Academy Breakin’ Convention.

The final factor worth mentioning is price. They promise that 50% of all tickets across the season are available for £25 or less, with £10 tickets for 16-30 year-olds. Forthcoming highlights include James Baldwin’s Inside Giovanni’s Room, Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet, Mette Ingvartsen’s Skatepark, and a new production of Romeo & Juliet featuring actors and dancers from local boroughs.

So what’s the food offer?

First up is The Well, the casual bring-your-laptop daytime café that turns into a theatre bar in the evening: think artisan sandwiches, pastries and homemade bakes. More spenny is the waterfront Park Kitchen & Bar, inspired by “London’s diverse cuisines”, as they put it – but no Head Chef is named – and using the best of British seasonal produce. Sadly it wasn’t open this week on my visit, but the menu includes picanha steak with chimichurri and twice cooked pink fir potatoes (£28), squash fondant with mushroom, celeriac and truffle (£13) and – most interestingly – a daily market fish with katsuobushi (fermented tuna), wasabi tartar sauce, mung beans and fries (£17). Small plates comprise salt-baked beets with saffron tahini and hazelnut, smashed cucumber salad and braised short rib. It sounds promising: look out for 50% off food offers advertised online until the end of January. @sadlerswells_east

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