Penny Bar & Café

You're walking down The Cut in Waterloo, past the red brick Victorian grandeur of the Old Vic, and ducking into a bar that feels properly lived-in rather than designed. Penny's got that pre-show energy—locals nursing flat whites at 11am, then the same spot transforms into somewhere you'd actually want to drink after catching a play. The space has character without trying too hard: wooden floors, exposed brick, the kind of place where your mates suggest 'one quick drink' and suddenly it's two hours later.