Sketch is not a restaurant. It is five rooms behind one door on Conduit Street, each with its own hours, and the hours are the whole story.
The Lecture Room and Library, the flagship, serves lunch on Friday and Saturday only, from 12.00 to 13.30.
That is three hours of lunch a week. If you want to eat lunch in the serious room at Sketch, there are exactly two sittings available to you in any given seven days, and most people book the wrong room entirely because nobody separates them out.
All five rooms and when they are actually open
The Lecture Room and Library. Lunch Friday and Saturday 12.00 to 13.30. Dinner Tuesday to Thursday 18.30 to 21.00, Friday and Saturday 19.00 to 21.00. Closed Sunday and Monday.
The Gallery. Afternoon tea Monday to Thursday 12.00 to 16.00, Friday to Sunday 11.00 to 16.30. Dinner Sunday to Thursday 17.30 to 21.00, Friday and Saturday 17.30 to 22.00. Open every day.
The Glade. Breakfast Monday to Friday 8.00 to 11.00, Saturday and Sunday 9.00 to 11.00. Lunch or afternoon tea every day 12.00 to 15.00. Bar Tuesday 18.00 to midnight, Wednesday to Saturday 18.00 to 02.00, Sunday 18.00 to midnight. The bar is closed on Monday.
The Parlour. All day dining every day 09.00 to 18.00. Bar Sunday to Tuesday 18.00 to midnight, Wednesday to Saturday 18.00 to 02.00.
The East Bar and Pods. Thursday to Saturday 18.00 to 02.00, and nothing else. Three nights a week.
There are two afternoon teas, not one
This is the thing almost nobody knows. The famous one is in the Gallery. There is a second one in the Glade.
The Gallery afternoon tea is the one on everybody’s camera roll, and it runs 12.00 to 16.00 on weekdays.
The Glade serves its own afternoon tea, every day from 12.00 to 15.00, on a separate menu, in the room done out like a forest.
So if the Gallery is booked solid, the answer is not to give up. It is to ask for the Glade.
One more detail on the Gallery tea worth having: at the weekend it starts an hour earlier and finishes half an hour later, 11.00 to 16.30 against 12.00 to 16.00 on weekdays. The weekend window is ninety minutes longer, which is the opposite of what you would expect at a room this busy.
Monday is the day to avoid
Put the five timetables side by side and Monday is visibly thinner than the rest.
On a Monday the Lecture Room and Library is shut, the Glade Bar is shut, and the East Bar is shut.
What is left is the Parlour from 9am to 6pm with its bar until midnight, the Glade for breakfast and lunch, and the Gallery for tea and dinner. A perfectly good day out, but not the building at full strength.
Tuesday is the first night the Lecture Room opens, and Thursday the first night the East Bar does.
Where to go late
Three rooms run to 2am, and only from Wednesday to Saturday: the Glade Bar, the Parlour Bar and the East Bar.
On a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, nothing at Sketch goes past midnight. So a late night here is a Wednesday-to-Saturday proposition, and on Wednesday the East Bar is still closed, leaving two rooms.
The East Bar is the one with the pods, and it is open for 24 hours a week in total.
Breakfast is the easiest way in
The Glade serves breakfast every day, from 8am on weekdays and 9am at weekends, until 11am.
It is the only meal at Sketch with no competition for tables, in a room most people only see in photographs, and it is over before the Gallery tea has started. If you want to see the building without planning a month ahead, this is the door.
The Parlour also opens at 9am every day and runs straight through to 6pm, with a menu to take away as well. That is nine hours a day, seven days a week, which makes it the most available room in the building by a wide margin.
The art changes every year
Static Arcade runs from 10 September to 10 November 2026, the annual Art and Design exhibition, this year with the French artist and designer Camille Walala, in collaboration with Grey Goose.
Worth knowing because the rooms are redecorated around these commissions, so the Sketch you saw in a photograph three years ago is not the Sketch you will walk into. If the look matters to you, check what is installed before you book.
Practical notes
9 Conduit Street, London W1S 2XG, on 020 7659 4500. Bond Street and Oxford Circus are the nearest stations, and it sits between Regent Street and Bond Street in Mayfair.
Bookings run through their reservations system room by room, which is why you have to decide which room you want before you can book anything. There is a subscription scheme for the Gallery.
One honest note: Sketch publishes its menus as separate documents per room and does not put headline prices on the booking pages, so we are not quoting figures here. Read the menu for your chosen room before you book, because the gap between the Parlour and the Lecture Room is very wide.
How to plan it
Lunch in the flagship: Friday or Saturday, 12.00 to 13.30. There is no third option.
The famous afternoon tea: the Gallery, and go at the weekend for the longer window from 11am.
Gallery tea unavailable: the Glade’s own afternoon tea, daily, 12.00 to 15.00.
Cheapest and easiest: breakfast in the Glade from 8am, or the Parlour any time from 9am to 6pm.
A late night: Wednesday to Saturday only, and Thursday onwards if you want the pods.
Not Monday, when three of the five rooms are closed.
sketch
- Address
- 9 Conduit Street, London W1S 2XG
- Nearest
- Bond Street and Oxford Circus
- Hours
- Lecture Room and Library: lunch Friday and Saturday 12.00 to 13.30, dinner Tuesday to Thursday 18.30 to 21.00 and Friday to Saturday 19.00 to 21.00, closed Sunday and Monday. Gallery: afternoon tea Monday to Thursday 12.00 to 16.00 and Friday to Sunday 11.00 to 16.30, dinner Sunday to Thursday 17.30 to 21.00 and Friday to Saturday 17.30 to 22.00. Glade: breakfast 8.00 to 11.00 weekdays and 9.00 to 11.00 weekends, lunch and afternoon tea daily 12.00 to 15.00, bar Tuesday to Sunday 18.00 to midnight or 02.00 Wednesday to Saturday, closed Monday. Parlour: daily 09.00 to 18.00, bar to midnight or 02.00 Wednesday to Saturday. East Bar and Pods: Thursday to Saturday 18.00 to 02.00
- Booking
- Online, room by room, or on 020 7659 4500. A subscription scheme is available for the Gallery
- Price
- Varies enormously by room. Menus are published separately per room and no headline prices appear on the booking pages
- Standing
- Five rooms behind one door on Conduit Street, redecorated around an annual art commission
How to get in
The flagship Lecture Room and Library serves lunch only on Friday and Saturday between 12.00 and 13.30, which is three hours a week. There are two separate afternoon teas, in the Gallery and in the Glade. Three of the five rooms are closed on Mondays, and the East Bar opens only Thursday to Saturday.
Where to go next
The afternoon tea page compares the rest on price, and Claridge’s is five minutes away with a festive blackout to plan around.
Mayfair restaurants cover the neighbours, and the cocktail bars cover the 2am question more widely.
Questions we get asked
What are the opening times at sketch?
They differ by room. The Parlour runs 9am to 6pm daily. The Glade does breakfast from 8am and lunch or afternoon tea from noon to 3pm. The Gallery does afternoon tea from noon, or 11am at weekends, then dinner from 5.30pm. The Lecture Room and Library opens Tuesday to Saturday for dinner and only Friday and Saturday for lunch. The East Bar opens Thursday to Saturday from 6pm.
When can you have lunch at the Lecture Room and Library?
Friday and Saturday only, between 12.00 and 13.30. That is two sittings and three hours a week in total. Dinner is more available, running Tuesday to Thursday from 18.30 and Friday and Saturday from 19.00, with the room closed on Sunday and Monday.
Does sketch have more than one afternoon tea?
Yes, two. The well-known one is in the Gallery, served noon to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 11am to 4.30pm Friday to Sunday. The Glade serves its own afternoon tea on a separate menu every day from noon to 3pm, which is the one to ask for when the Gallery is full.
Is sketch open on Monday?
Partly. The Parlour, the Glade for breakfast and lunch, and the Gallery all open on Mondays. The Lecture Room and Library, the Glade Bar and the East Bar are all closed.
How late is sketch open?
Until 2am in the Glade Bar, the Parlour Bar and the East Bar, but only from Wednesday to Saturday. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nothing at sketch runs past midnight.
What time is breakfast at sketch?
The Glade serves breakfast from 8am Monday to Friday and from 9am at weekends, until 11am every day. The Parlour opens at 9am daily. Breakfast is the easiest table to get in the building.
What is the exhibition at sketch?
Static Arcade, running from 10 September to 10 November 2026, the annual Art and Design exhibition, this year with French artist and designer Camille Walala in collaboration with Grey Goose. The rooms are redecorated around these commissions, so the interiors change from year to year.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 264 in the guide.
Last checked 5 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
