Choral Evensong service at St. Paul’s Cathedral

Name: St. Paul's Cathedral Evensong
Start: 2024-06-01
End: 2025-12-31
Location: St. Paul’s

Where? St. Paul’s, St. Paul’s Churchyard, The City When? Every day Usually 5 PM to 5.45 PM (Mon-Sat) and 3 PM to 3.45 PM (Sun) Note: Evensong will sometimes be replaced by a spoken Evening Prayer or some other special service, and you should check your date on stpauls.co.uk Price? Free to attend the mass, but you need to buy a ticket if you want to see the rest of the Cathedral (which you have to do before the mass, as the Cathedral shuts straight after) Usual entry cost: Adult £26; Senior (65+) £23.50; Child (6-17) £10; Infant (under-6) free; Family (max 1ad+3ch) £36; Family (max 2ad+3ch) £62 Parking: Nearby car parks Buses: 4, 8, 15, 17, 23, 25, 26, 56, 76, 100, 172, 242, 521 Bus fares Trains: The closest station is St. Paul’s Central Other nearby stations: Blackfriars and Mansion House Train fares

Craig’s review… You usually have to buy a ticket to see inside St. Paul's but if you attend one of these Evensong services then you can get inside for free. You can't walk any further than the central dome though, or climb any of the stairs, but even so, that's still a large part of the cathedral you can see for nothing.

If you turn up a bit early then you can even nip inside the crypt and get a distant glimpse of Nelson's tomb through the big iron gate. Just look for the door round the lefthand side of the front steps that takes you down into the gift shop and restaurant - but don't make the same mistake that I did today and come out with only thirty minutes to spare because you'll discover that half of the congregation have already beaten you inside.

If you want a decent seat then aim to be in the queue by 4.30 PM to give you time to get through security. Once you're through the front door you have to pass another little barrier where they hand out the order of service. Then you can just take a seat and wait for the service to start, sharing the space with about a million billion other people all walking around with their audio-guides on.

St. Paul's Cathedral nave — The nave and High Altar at the end

If you're lucky then you'll get to hear the choir going through some vocal warm-ups before the service starts. Most of the time it will be the Vicars Choral and thirty boy and girl choristers - some as young as seven or eight - but on Thursday's it's just the Vicars Choral on their own. On Monday they usually have a visiting choir.

As it gets closer to 5 PM all of the tourists are ushered out and part of the congregation seems to disappear at this point as well, belatedly realising that an actual mass is about to start and having second thoughts. Then all of a sudden the organ pipes up and the priests parade in behind a six-foot cross, smoke billowing from a swinging incense holder that envelopes everyone in that wonderful smell of Christmas.

The altar table in front of the Quire, and High Altar behind

The music is absolutely amazing. It's one thing hearing it on the radio, or watching it on TV, but when you're standing fifteen feet away it's powerful enough to actually affect your insides. The cathedral seems to make it linger long after they've stopped singing, wringing every last second out of the notes until they waft away like smoke into the dome.

Luckily we're not expected to sing anything ourselves - there are no hymns for the congregation. The service just consists of a sermon, some prayers and a reading from the Bible. Towards the end they offer everyone a sip of wine and holy communion but lots of people just stay in their seat.

Listening to the service underneath the central dome

Sixty minutes later it's all over and you have time for a very quick look around before dropping some money in the offering box.

So how does it compare to the Evensong at Westminster Abbey? If you only have time for one then I would definitely choose the Abbey. Not that there's anything wrong with the service at St. Paul's, but I just prefer Westminster Abbey as a building because the cathedral seems very bright and white inside, whereas the Abbey is a lot darker and more intimate, and I just think that a church service is better held in the dark.

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Worth a visit? ★★☆Value for money? freeGood for kids? ★☆☆Easy to get to? ★★★

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How to get to St. Paul’s Cathedral

Bus and train fares to St. Paul’s Cathedral
Fare zone	Cash	Oyster & Contactless				Travelcard
	Single fare	Single fare		Daily cap		One day
	Single fare	Peak	Off-peak	Peak	Off-peak	Anytime	Off-peak
Bus	n/a	£1.75		£5.25		£6
Train (zone 1)	£7	£2.90	£2.80	£8.90	£8.90	£16.60(zone 1-4)	£16.60(zone 1-6)
Train (zone 1-2)	£7	£3.50	£2.90	£8.90	£8.90
Train (zone 1-3)	£7	£3.80	£3.10	£10.50	£10.50
Train (zone 1-4)	£7	£4.60	£3.40	£12.80	£12.80
Train (zone 1-5)	£7	£5.20	£3.60	£15.30	£15.30	£23.60(zone 1-6)
Train (zone 1-6)	£7	£5.80*	£3.80*	£16.30	£16.30	£23.60(zone 1-6)
* Journeys between zone 1 and Heathrow are always charged at the peak rate. Prices are correct as of 2nd March 2025