Companions for a South Bank evening at Waterloo, SE1

The National Theatre stacks three auditoria into one concrete block with terraces running around the outside, and the bar under the flytower stays open long after the last curtain, which makes it the easiest late meeting point on the south side. The Royal Festival Hall next to it keeps its 1951 foyers open to anybody who walks in, with a piano going most afternoons and a view straight across at Charing Cross. The BFI sits under Waterloo Bridge, and the book stalls on the pavement outside it trade until dusk in all weathers.

Behind the river the district is scruffier and better for it. The Old Vic stands on The Cut with the Young Vic a hundred yards along, Lower Marsh keeps a street market and a row of small kitchens, and Leake Street runs under the platforms as a tunnel of spray paint that is repainted weekly and holds a theatre at the far end of it.

Theatre guests, overwhelmingly. An evening at the National or the Old Vic finishes between ten and half past, and a guest with a river view room five minutes away would rather not end the night there. Then the rail arrivals from the south west, who reach the concourse at all hours and are checked in within four minutes. And conference visitors staying at County Hall, who chose the view and intend to use it.

Four hours with dinner at £900 leads here because the evenings have curtains in them. Two hours at £500 covers a late supper after a performance, and ten hours at £1,800 is common in the river facing rooms for reasons anybody who has seen the view will understand.

The London Marriott County Hall occupies part of the old council building beside the Eye, and its north facing rooms look straight across the river at Parliament, which is the single best window in this postcode. Park Plaza Westminster Bridge stands opposite at the end of the bridge, large, modern and easy to arrive at unremarked. Sea Containers London sits further east on Upper Ground behind a copper front, with a rooftop bar looking west along the river. Park Plaza County Hall is the quieter option a street back on Addington Street.

Named as places she walks into. No agreement exists with any of them, and a companion crosses the lobby as your invited guest. The apartments on Belvedere Road and the flats behind Lower Marsh are visited identically.

Waterloo, one minute from most riverside addresses and carrying more lines than any other stop on this circuit: Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and the Waterloo and City, with the mainline platforms above. Southwark, four minutes east on the Jubilee. Lambeth North, five minutes south on the Bakerloo.

On foot, Waterloo Bridge puts you at the crescent on the north bank in ten minutes, and the Hungerford footbridge reaches Trafalgar Square in the same time with a better view. All of it is Zone 1, so the travelling is already inside the fee, whichever bridge she uses.

Lead with the performance if there is one, because a seven thirty curtain fixes every other decision. Otherwise send the hour, the length, the address, plus the name you want or a few words about the evening. The desk replies in 10 to 15 minutes at any hour of the night.

The name holding the room, the building and the door number are matched once in writing, and go no further afterwards. An ordinary evening here is then fixed on the sheet. Nights that run to breakfast, events and journeys are fixed identically, with the crossing time added to the arrival estimate.

Arrivals in SE1 usually happen inside the hour of confirmation, allowing a few extra minutes for the bridge. Three hours ahead costs nothing to cancel; under two, half remains payable; a booking nobody answers is charged completely; fifteen minutes of latitude applies both ways.

18:00, the terrace outside the concert hall with the whole north bank lighting up across the water, which costs nothing and beats any hotel bar in the postcode. 18:45, an early table on The Cut, ten minutes inland, where the kitchens understand curtain times without being told. 19:30, the Old Vic. 22:15, a last drink under the flytower at the National, still serving and still full. 23:00, back along the river walk to the hotel with the lights on the water behind you.

That is four hours at £900. Three hours at £700 keeps the performance and the supper. Two hours at £500 covers the late drink and the walk, ninety minutes at £400 an hour after the curtain, and £1,800 takes the whole night through to a breakfast with that view in it.

Nobody on the list lives south of the river, so every arrival here comes over a bridge. Tina walks it from WC2 in about fifteen minutes and is the fastest yes on the call sheet for a late request. Margo travels in from Knightsbridge, slim, dark haired and thirty one, and is well suited to a long evening with a performance in the middle of it. Stacy makes the run from Chelsea, tall at 176 cm, and carries a river view room and a late supper equally easily.

Every other woman in the company reaches SE1 on identical figures, and the travelling is inside the fee from each home district.

Across Waterloo Bridge, Strand and Aldwych begins at Somerset House, with Covent Garden and the Piazza five minutes behind it. Across the Hungerford footbridge, Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square sit at the bottom of the hill, and Leicester Square is a few minutes above them. The whole north bank postcode family is mapped on the WC2 page.