Theatre Royal Drury Lane ghost tours and afternoon tea

Since reopening after a £60 million refurb, Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Theatre Royal Drury Lane has become a go-to for stylish teas in its grand upstairs room.

Think tinkling ivories, marble columns, glinting chandeliers, and walls painted in Bridgerton Regency hues, adorned by busts of famous old Thespians. It's already atmospheric, but when you dim the lamps, and follow it with the ghost stories of past performers who seem reluctant to leave, it's a shivery treat.

Halloween afternoon tea at The Lane includes a passion fruit cake with ginger biscuit cross and piped ivy (Image: Courtesy of The Lane)

Afternoon tea at The Lane is served on their bespoke porcelain featuring characters from plays staged at the Covent Garden landmark over its 360-year history.

There's now a Halloween twist with a gorgeous passion-fruit sponge by Lilly Vanilli decorated with chocolate soil and ginger biscuit tomb, and piped with ivy.

Autumnal treats include a salmon and cream cheese crumpet, a flaky mini chicken pie with chutney, a fabulous mini sticky toffee pudding with a spooky eye, and delicate ice-cream cake wedged between biscuit layers. It's all served with a warm fruit scone and a pot of quality tea, or you can add a glass of Champagne if you have booked in for the Ghost tour, and feel in need of some Dutch courage.The Theatre Royal is said to be haunted the by ghost of Regency clown Joseph Grimaldi

Theatres out of hours have a strange energy, and now you can explore one of the most haunted in the company of two excellent storytellers as your guides.

While it would be wrong to spoil the fun, there are several jump scares, fascinating theatrical folklore, some welcome comic relief, and a visit to the light-flickering tunnel which is the oldest part of the theatre, and the only way actors could once get from one side of the stage to another.

Over the years, performers in the likes of Charlie and The Chocolate factory, Oklahoma!, Carousel and My Fair Lady have reported strange goings on, with dressing room TVs changing channel, being shoved off stage or kicked in the backside, or seeing the ghost of The Man in Grey dressed in cloak and Tricorne hat in the Upper Circle. If he appears in rehearsals it's said the show will go well - he once appeared to the entire cast of Miss Saigon at a curtain call, and has been linked to a skeleton discovered during renovations in 1840 in a walled up room.The upstairs room at The Lane is an elegant space with marble columns and chandeliers (Image: Courtesy of The Lane)

In 1735 Charles Macklin got into a row with a fellow actor over a wig in the theatre's scene room. He struck him with a stick that impaled his eye and killed him, but got off with manslaughter and never served time. Security guards patrolling at night have heard their names called out, or seen doors shut suddenly. And could the actor, who had a photographic memory and knew every part of a play, be the ghost who whispers a forgotten line to performers who 'dry' on stage?

The rouged face of Victorian panto dame Dan Leno has also appeared i a mirror to chorus members of My Fair Lady, and his spirit is supposedly accompanied by the smell of lavender which the alcoholic actor used to disguise his odour. The ghost of Regency clown Joseph Grimaldi has popped up in his favourite theatre, most recently sitting in the Royal Box, in the background of a picture taken by a couple in the empty auditorium.Ghost tours cost £30 and last an hour and include a pre-tour cocktail in the Cecil Beaton Bar (Image: Courtesy of The Theatre Royal)

Ghost Tours start at 9.15pm and are available to book until October 31 at £30 including a spiced pumpkin cocktail in the Cecil Beaton Bar. Halloween Afternoon Tea is available from October 16-31 price £59. thelane.co.uk