There are three ways to book:

• Online at polkatheatre.com, see all shows and workshop available for booking on our What’s on page
• Via phone at 020 8543 4888 (phone lines are open 9am – 5pm every day)
• In person via our Box Office at 240 The Broadway, Wimbledon, SW19 1SB

A transaction fee of £2.50 is applied for phone/online bookings. 

We accept most card companies, excluding American Express, and can accept Theatre Tokens in venue. Please note we are a cash free venue, and cannot accept cash payments at the Box Office, Shop or Café. 

For performances in our Main Theatre, you will choose where you would like to sit when booking your tickets.

For performances in our Adventure Theatre, your tickets will have unallocated seating and you will choose where you would like to sit when you come in to the theatre. There are two seating options in the Adventure Theatre, cushions on the carpet or benches. Children are encouraged to sit on the cushions to be closer to the action. If you have any specific seating requirements please contact our Box Office before your performance. 

Tickets can be exchanged to an alternative date and/or time subject to availability for a £2 exchange fee per ticket. You must ring or visit in person before your performance. 

Please note that tickets are non-refundable. In some cases tickets may be returned for re-sale, in exchange for account credit (valid for 12 months).  

You are welcome to bring your baby. For a child aged under 12 months old please purchase a Babe in Arms ticket for them which costs £1. Any child over 12 months old will require a child ticket.

Please note productions specifically intended for babies are exempt from this and in these cases we would ask you to purchase a ticket for every child that is attending.

All children under 16 attending shows must have an adult over 18 with them at all times. 

Some of our workshops for children aged 4+ years are child only, and guardians are not expected to attend alongside their child. Please check when booking your tickets whether it specifies adult & child or child only. 

Our age guidance reflects the intended age group that each production has been created for. You are welcome to bring a child that is outside of this group, but you should be aware that the content of the show may not be suitable for them.

As part of our regular programming, we offer performances which are only available for booking by school groups. Performances marked as ‘schools performance’ are therefore not available for public booking. 

On some occasions we may offer schools & public performances which are available for booking by both schools and public audiences.

Please check the conditions of the offer before selecting your tickets.

For example, ticket offers for our Main Theatre usually only apply to Band A or Band B tickets. Once the tickets are in your basket, you need to log into your account for your offer to be automatically applied. If you come across any issues after having logged in, please contact the Box Office on 020 8543 4888. 

If you have a promo code, please enter it once prompted after you have selected your tickets. 

If you have made a booking with us in the past or signed up to our mailing list, you will have an account with the email address you provided. To create an online account, please click on ‘Forgotten your password? Reset Here.’ to set your password. If you have never booked with us, please create an account.

Be sure to check your email spam as sometimes emails can go there by mistake. Otherwise, please contact our Box Office and they’ll be able to resend them to you. 

To avoid emails going to spam, please add [email protected] to our safe sender list. 

An adult and child ticket allows 1 adult & 1 child to attend the workshop together. For certain workshops additional child tickets (allowing 1 adult & 2 children to attend) may be available. Additional adult tickets are not available due to capacity. 

We have two theatre spaces. 

The Main Theatre is our bigger space with 300 seats. It is located upstairs, step-free access is available. 

The Adventure Theatre is a more intimate space, for up to 100 people. It has a mix of floor and bench seating. 

Most shows at Polka have a flexible space policy. If you need to leave the theatre to have a break, you are welcome to re-enter once ready. For our Main Theatre, we have a breakout space in the upstairs foyer with a livestream of the performance available to watch. If you need a quiet space whilst visiting, just let us know – we’ll help you to find it.

For anyone with sensory sensitivities, or first-time theatre goers who are unsure about how they may respond to the theatre environment, we also hold relaxed performances which may provide a more comfortable experience. Read more about them on our access page. 

No food or drink except for water is allowed in our Adventure Theatre. You may take food and drink into our Main Theatre except for hot food.

No need to worry! We understand these things happen. Just head to the Box Office upon arrival and they will check your tickets and a member of staff will show you to your seats. If you won’t make it in time, please get in touch with the Box Office before the show begins to enquire about your tickets.

We stock Criterion ice cream in a variety of flavours, including sorbet and vegan varieties. These are available to buy in our Café and during the interval of Main Theatre shows (if applicable). Please note, ice creams cannot be taken into the Adventure Theatre.  

Ice creams are available for pre-order at a discounted price. 

We are located in Wimbledon at:

Polka Theatre
240 The Broadway
Wimbledon
London
SW19 1SB

We are best accessed by public transport, being within walking distance of Wimbledon Station, which is served by national rail, tube and tram services and South Wimbledon tube station. The number 57, 93, 219, 131 buses also stop outside at the ‘Polka Theatre’ stop, with 156, 163, 164, 200 stopping nearby. 

We do not have a dedicated car park but there is a limited number of pay-and-display bays on residential roads near the theatre. Alternative car parking is available in Wimbledon Town Centre, including Centre Court Shopping Centre, The Broadway (next to New Wimbledon Theatre), Queen’s Road, St George’s Road, Hartfield Road and Hartfield Crescent. For information on blue badge parking please see the access section. 

We offer reduced rate tickets for those with access requirements, a complimentary ticket for a companion/carer, and up to 2 further tickets at concession rate. No proof of disability is required.

Please contact our Box Office team to discuss any access requirements and to book tickets, on 020 8543 4888, or email [email protected].

A £2.50 transaction fee applies to online and phone bookings.

Access performances are specifically adapted and supported shows that can benefit audience members for any number of reasons. 

We offer four different types of access performances; Relaxed, British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreted, Audio Described and Captioned. 

For a full list of upcoming access performances please visit our Access and Support page here. 

For Audio Described, BSL Interpreted and Captioned performances no changes are made to the show itself. 

Relaxed shows will be adapted for those with sensory sensitivities. For more information please read the access and support page here. 

Yes, our Main Theatre is accessible via a lift towards the back of the building. Please ask a member of staff or volunteer and they will be able to assist you. 

Our ground floor Café, Shop, Play Spaces, Clore Learning Studio and Adventure Theatre are all accessible via step-free access. 

Blue Badge holders may park on the single lines in front of the theatre for up to 3 hours.

Blue Badge holders can also park in the Pay and Display bays near the theatre on Latimer Road and Bridges Road. There are two disabled spaces on Latimer Road.

Drop off is available at the front entrance.

Yes! Please contact our Box Office on [email protected] or 020 8543 4888 and we’ll do our best to accommodate a tour. 

We create social stories for all Polka productions. These will be available on the shows web page in advance, and will be included in the pre-show email. 

Our free to use Play Spaces, Café and Shop are open as following:

Tuesday – Friday: 9am – 5pm
Saturday – Sunday: 9.30am – 5pm (excluding Bank Holidays)

The building is closed on Mondays.

Opening hours may change with bank holidays. The most up to date opening hours can be found on our Your Visit page. 

For our current programme, please check our what’s on page, or read our brochure. 

The Y C Chan Play Den and outdoor play areas are free for everyone to use, with no booking required. 

Openings days and times may change due to bank holidays or private functions. Please visit the Your Visit page for full opening times.

Unfortunately we have had to temporarily close our outdoor play house to carry out some essential building maintenance. 

There is still much fun to be had in our Sensory Garden, filled with games and wildlife! 

Our indoor play space, The Y Chan Play Den, has a book corner, dressing up costumes, magnetic board and activity sheets, all free to use.

Our 6+ Zone takes place every Friday from 3 – 5pm in our Clore Learning Studio. This is designed to give older children a dedicated place to hang out at Polka. 

This space is filled with books and board games for an older age range, as well as our interactive projection system. 

Yes! Our Café is located at the front of the building and is open from 9am – 5pm Tuesday – Fridays and 9.30am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday. 

The Café serves a variety of hot and cold food and drinks, including locally roasted coffee. View the whole menu here. 

Please note outside picnics cannot be taken into the Café. 

Polka Volunteers have to be over 16 years of age, but there is no upper age limit!

Polka Volunteers help us to keep activities and shows at Polka running safely and smoothly, and help us to keep our public play spaces free and accessible for everyone. Our volunteers also get to see our fantastic shows!

Polka is open to the public from Tuesdays – Sundays, with performances usually taking place on Wednesdays – Sundays. As we have lots of different shows in throughout the year, which all start at different times and have different lengths, the volunteering shifts vary with these times. Usually performances will take place in the mornings and early afternoons, which is when we need our volunteers the most. Polka usually closes at 5pm so it is rare that Polka will require volunteers in the evenings.

Head to our Polka Volunteering page and read through the Volunteer Information Pack to see if volunteering at Polka would be a good fit for you. We take applications through a volunteering platform called Be Collective and if your application is successful we will invite you into Polka for a chat. After we have met you we will let you know if we would like you to join our team. 

We are a registered charity (Charity no. 256979). With your help we can continue to have a positive impact on the lives of children through creativity and ensure that cost or ability is never a barrier to having fun at Polka. 

For more information of how to support us, click here. 

For all job openings please check our webpage here. 

Due to demand, we are only able to take a small number of work experience students on per year for a week. Pupils must be in Years 11 or 12. 

For more information, click here. 

We are proud to offer many community schemes, including projects, hires, events and subsidised schemes. For more information please read our community page here. 

Absolutely! Please see our Birthday Parties page.

Yes, several of our spaces are available for hire. For full information please check our hires pack. 

Our play spaces are available for hire outside of our normal opening hours (all day Monday, after 5pm Tuesday – Sunday). Please visit our hires page for more information.