Do London Nightclubs Have a Cloakroom?

By Liam Foster, Niche Reviewer

Last updated: 15 May 2026

If you are heading out in Mayfair, Soho, or Chelsea on a winter night, the question is genuinely practical: where does your coat go for the next five hours? The short answer is yes, most London nightclubs have a cloakroom, but how it works (and what it costs) varies far more than you would expect.

I have been handing coats in and out of London cloakrooms for years, on quiet weekday nights and on a properly chaotic Saturday at midnight. Here is what I have learned the hard way about how cloakrooms actually function across the city's bigger venues, plus the small details that catch first-timers out.

Yes, most central London clubs have a cloakroom

Almost every nightclub I have visited in Mayfair, Soho, and the West End has a manned cloakroom. It is near the entrance, usually tucked just past the door staff and behind the host stand. You hand over your coat or bag, the attendant gives you a numbered ticket, and you collect everything when you leave.

Smaller bar-style venues are the exception. A handful of late-night cocktail bars do not bother with a dedicated coat check and instead let you hang things on a hook by your seat or table. That is fine in summer, but in November and December it becomes a real consideration.

Time Out's London clubs section gives a useful sense of which venues are larger, well-staffed nightclubs and which lean more towards bar-led late-night spots. The former almost always have a proper cloakroom; the latter often do not.

Expect to pay, and what it actually costs

Cloakroom charges in London nightclubs are not regulated, and they vary. From my own visits across Mayfair clubs over the last two years, the typical range is somewhere between £2 and £5 per item, with most West End venues sitting at the upper end of that. As of May 2026, I have paid £3 most consistently at Maddox and at Reign, £5 at Tape and a couple of the more theatrical venues, and £2 at smaller spots like Beat in Marylebone.

A few of the more exclusive Mayfair clubs include the cloakroom in your table booking, so if you have got a VIP table, ask the host. You may not need to pay at all. Walk-ins almost always pay per item.

Cash, card, or pre-paid

This is the one that catches everyone out. Some London cloakrooms are still cash-only. The smaller, older Mayfair venues in particular, the ones with a single staffer running coats at a counter, have not all moved to card payments. When I went to one Mayfair club on a Thursday in March, I had to walk back outside to a cashpoint because the cloakroom till could not take card.

Newer venues like Maison Close and Selene are fully cashless and charge the card you have already given the host for the table tab. If you are stopping in for a one-off night without a booking, bring £10 in cash as a backstop. You will almost always need less, but you do not want to find out at 2am that the cashpoint is broken.

Should you tip the cloakroom attendant?

Genuinely up to you, but the honest answer from a London regular's perspective: a £1 or £2 tip when you collect your coat at the end of the night is appreciated and it changes how quickly you get served. The cloakroom is always busiest in the last 30 minutes before closing, and a folded note slipped over the counter tends to move things along.

Tipping is not expected the way it is in New York, and nobody will look at you strangely if you do not. But on a Saturday at 3am when there are 80 people deep waiting for coats, the people who tipped on the way in tend to get their stuff first.

What you can (and cannot) check

The standard items: coats, jackets, scarves, hats, gloves, and small umbrellas. Bags are usually accepted if they are handbag-sized or smaller.

What gets refused, in my experience:

• Large rucksacks or weekend bags. Most central London cloakrooms simply do not have the space, and security policies discourage them anyway.
• Anything visibly containing liquids or aerosols.
• Suit bags or garment bags. Some venues take them, most do not.

If you are coming straight from a train station or the airport with luggage, plan on dropping it at a hotel or a left-luggage service before the club. Most door teams will not let large bags past the entrance regardless of the cloakroom's policy.

Losing your ticket

Try not to. But if you do, the procedure varies by venue. The strict ones will hold your coat until the end of the night and ask you to describe it and prove ownership. The more relaxed ones will look in the ticket book for any coat unclaimed under your name. In every case, expect a delay.

I keep a photo of the ticket on my phone the second it is handed to me. It sounds excessive but I have used that workaround twice now after the paper ticket got lost between the dancefloor and the bar.

When the queue gets bad

On the way in, the cloakroom queue is usually a non-event. On the way out, it can be brutal, particularly between 2:30am and 3am on a Saturday when most West End clubs are closing or hitting last-orders.

Two tricks that genuinely work:

• Leave 15 minutes before the official close. Most people stay until lights-up and you will skip the worst of the queue.
• If you have got a table, the host can usually have your coats brought to the table while you finish your drink. Ask at the start of the night, not the end.

The other thing worth knowing: what time London nightclubs actually close varies more than you might think, and the cloakroom rush hits at that specific moment, not at a fixed time across the city.

A few venue-specific notes

Quick honest observations from the venues I see most often:

• Cuckoo Club runs a fast cloakroom near the entrance. Smart, well-staffed, around £3 per item as of May 2026.
• Maison Close uses a card-based system tied to your booking. If you are not on a table, expect to pay on collection.
• Reign has a small cloakroom that can back up at close. Leave 10 minutes earlier than you think you should.
• Tape charges towards the higher end and the queue at exit can be slow on Saturday.

For more on what a first visit at a specific Mayfair venue actually feels like, my walkthrough of Maison Close covers the door, the music, and what the cloakroom queue looks like on a Friday.

Quick summary

• Yes, most London nightclubs have a cloakroom. Expect £2 to £5 per item as of May 2026.
• Bring cash as a backup in case the cloakroom till is cash-only.
• Tip £1 to £2 on the way out if you want quick service later.
• Do not bring luggage. It will not be accepted.
• Keep a photo of your ticket in case you lose it.
• Leave 15 minutes early on busy nights, or have the host bring coats to your table.

If you would like help booking a table at a Mayfair or Soho venue and want the cloakroom and door details confirmed in writing first, get in touch and we will sort it for you.