Booking Tickets
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There are three ways to book:
- Online
- 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, open 9am-5pm Mon – Fri and 9.30am-5pm at weekends.
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 and online. Please note we cannot accept cash payments at the Box Office.
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For performances in our Y C Chan 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 or benches. Children should sit with their adults during the show. If you have any specific seating requirements please contact our Box Office before your performance.
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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 5pm the day 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). Ticket refund protection is available for purchase. Read our full T&C’s here.
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You are welcome to bring your baby.
Productions specifically intended for babies will require you to purchase a ticket for both yourself and the child. It will state on the individual webpage if this is the case.
For all other shows, for a child aged under 12 months old please purchase an Adult & Babe in Arms ticket, which includes a Babe in Arms ticket priced at £1. Any child over 12 months old will require a standard child ticket.
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Yes. 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.
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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.
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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.
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Please check the conditions of the offer before selecting your tickets.
Once the tickets are in your basket, you need to log into your account for your offer to be automatically applied.
If you have a promo code, please enter it once prompted after you have selected your tickets. Promo codes are case sensitive and must be input as written for the offer to apply correctly.
If you come across any issues after having logged in, please contact the Box Office on 020 8543 4888.
To find the terms and conditions for an offer, please see our Offers T&Cs page.
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If you have an account with us you can reset your password by clicking “Forgotten Password”.
Alternatively click “Send me a link to login” and a login link will be sent to the email you are registered with.
If you do not have an account, you will be required to provide basic information during the checkout process, and will be given the opportunity to create an account at the end if you would like to.
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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.
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An adult and child ticket allows 1 adult & 1 child to attend the workshop together. For certain workshops additional children’s tickets (allowing 1 adult & 2 children to attend) may be available. Additional adult tickets are not available due to capacity unless specifically listed.
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Yes! We accept theatre tokens for counter, phone and online transactions. To use your theatre token online, please add the tickets to your basket and follow the link at the bottom of the page. Here you will be prompted to exchange your Theatre Tokens into a Polka Theatre voucher, which you can then use on our website.
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Polka gift cards are redeemable online and in person at our Box Office for shows and workshop tickets.
The gift card can not be used in the shop or café.
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Secure My Booking is an optional ticket refund protection that can be added to any order of show tickets for an additional fee.
Ticket refund protection allows you to claim a refund for covered reasons, such as illness, travel delays and extreme weather.
More information can be found in our Terms and Conditions of Sale here.
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Are concession rate applies to those who:
- Are aged 65+
- in receipt of unemployment benefits
- in receipt of income-based benefits
- Anyone with access requirements
Please be aware that ticket offers do not apply to concession tickets and are subject to availability.
Not sure if you are eligible? Just contact our Box Office and they’ll be happy to help! We don’t require any evidence for eligible customers to book these tickets.
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We do not have a cloakroom. If possible, please do not bring large backpacks and suitcases with you.
Buggy’s can be left in our dedicated buggy park.
Seeing a Show
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We have two theatre spaces.
The Y C Chan 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.
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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 Y C Chan 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.
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No food or drink except for water is allowed in our Adventure Theatre. You may take cold food and drink into our Y C Chan Theatre.
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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.
We are unable to amend any orders if you miss the performance.
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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 Y C Chan 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.
Allergen information is available on request.
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We are located in Wimbledon at:
Polka Theatre
240 The Broadway
Wimbledon
London
SW19 1SBWe 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 Wimbledon Quarter 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.
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Yes! Both our Y C Chan Theatre and Adventure Theatre are fully air-conditioned.
Please note our public play spaces and café do not have air conditioning.
Access & Support
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Access bookers get a reduced rate ticket, a free companion and up to two further tickets at a reduced rate.
To book online, select your required tickets and proceed to the basket. Log into your account and update your Access Requirements (listed under “Other Preferences”). This will automatically apply the correct ticket prices to your booking. Access bookers are also entitled to two additional tickets at an access rate. To unlock this offer, input the ACCESSOFFER promo code at checkout.
If you encounter any issues while booking online, you can contact us on 020 8543 4888 or [email protected].
A £2.50 transaction fee applies to online and phone bookings.
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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.
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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.
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Yes, our Y C Chan 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.
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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 accessible spaces on Latimer Road.
Drop off is available at the front entrance.
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Yes! Please contact our Box Office on [email protected] or 020 8543 4888 and we’ll do our best to accommodate a tour.
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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.
Your Visit
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Our free to use Play Spaces, Café and Shop are open as follows:
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.
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For our current programme, please check our what’s on page, or read our brochure.
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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.
Please note that our open-access play areas are unsupervised, and we ask parents and guardians to ensure they remain with their children at all times. The outdoor play space will close an hour before the rest of the building
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Our indoor play space, The Y C Chan Play Den, has a book corner, dressing up costumes, magnetic board and activity sheets, all free to use.
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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.
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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.
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We accept cash in our Café and shop.
We do not accept cash at our Box Office.
Volunteering
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Polka Volunteers have to be over 16 years of age, but there is no upper age limit!
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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!
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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.
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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. 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.
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You can! Let our team know in your chat that you’d like to do a trial shift.
About Polka
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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.
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For all job openings please check our webpage here.
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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.
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We are proud to offer many community schemes, including projects, hires, events and subsidised schemes. For more information please read our community page here.
Hires
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Absolutely! See our page below
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Yes, several of our spaces are available for hire. For full information please check our hires pack.
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Our play spaces are available for hire outside of our normal opening hours (all day Monday, after 5pm Tuesday – Sunday).
Have any more questions?
Don’t hesitate to get in touch!
