Timing for theatre and Euston baggage retrieval when riding overnight Caledonian Express

your hotel is inconvenient to Euston? Most hotels will hold your luggage after checkout for free and you wouldn't worry about queues or delays at Left Luggage (over by platform 17 at Euston unless the HS2 debacle has forced them to move)

This is the official page of 'Excess Baggage'- the left luggage company at Euston.-
https://www.euston.com/left-luggage/

It slightly confusingly says

It will be accessible to passengers at any time during service hours.

but

You can leave luggage at Excess Baggage Co. Monday to Sunday 7:00 – 23:00

There is an email address on that web page to double check with them.

when I used to work in and out of Euston (things may be different now, YMMV) I can remember walking past in the evening and noticing that their usual 1 person staffing was occasionally down to zero at some times. I suppose their one person had physical needs or was due a break.

I'd be interested to know how things go this year.

Please return and share your experiences....

You could walk from the theatre to the station in 30 minutes so that part is ample time for any mode of transport. Luggage storage can get a bit shaky late in the evening though, that would be my greater concern.

Whilst you board from 11.15 presumably you can also board after that, 12.30 would I’m sure be fine.
So, if your hotel is not too far from the theatre I would leave it there and go back after the show. If it isn’t I might look at a stasher location that is guaranteed to be open up to 11pm.

Hmm, I had not considered leaving our luggage at our hotel as it's in Southwark/Bankside, but I guess we could do that as the cost of a taxi back to get it would be about the same as the cost of storing it at Euston.

So it sounds like if we leave the theater at 10pm, took taxi back to Southwark, got luggage by 10:20, we could get to Euston by 11? Or, I guess we could eat dinner after the 5:30 show (if we did that one instead), get luggage around 9pm, and then go to Euston? I don't want to worry about missing the train due to traffic, etc.

This isn't by chance a Friday we're discussing, is it? Several of the major museums in London are open late that night.

That’s plenty of time. As I said above you don’t actually need to be on the train until 11.30 at least. I appreciate you will want to be there earlier but you have plenty of wriggle room if need be.

Or what about left luggage at Charing Cross Station, just down the Strand from the Vaudeville then the Tube/Taxi to Euston- saves a bit of toing and froing across the Thames. Same hours and same times as Euston.
It's another possibility and a lot closer to Bankside/Southwark in the morning, rather than trailing up to Euston.

To me, the taxi journey back to the hotel in Southwark would be somewhat inconvenient. If it were my trip (and it's not) I would be looking at Excess Baggage, the left luggage company at Euston, to store my bags. Very convenient for picking them up as you go to your train. It also wouldn't bother me to get to my train a bit early.

As an alternative, you could change your hotel reservations to the Premier Inn London Euston, across the street from Euston Station, and let them hold your bags for you.

There are lots of good restaurants in the Euston area for your meal after the show.

I enjoy walking walking around London. Taking in the views at night is something I enjoy to cap off a trip there. So in that situation I would see the early show. Make reservations for dinner at 7:15 and have a leisurely nice dinner. Finish up maybe 8:45. Take the tube or bus over to St Paul’s. Take in the views as I cross the millennium bridge. Walk along the south bank towards tower bridge and enjoy one last evening in London. Get back to hotel by 10pm. Grab the bags and head to Euston station. Google maps (I used Hilton bankside as start point) estimates that at that time it’s a 15 to 20 minute ride which leaves plenty of time for traffic delays.

@Rebecca - good idea, but our hotel is free on points and we have two rooms, so that is a very big cost-savings reason not to change, haha!

Thank you all for the suggestions and helping me talk it out! I think we will do the early show of SIX, do a long dinner, do a night walk as suggested above, and just leave our bags at our Bankside hotel for retrieval instead of chancing the "will there be someone working" Euston left luggage. Appreciate the help!

Oh Kelly, I understand now about your hotel!
It may be of some interest that the London Walks company does some evening walks:
www.walks.com
Have a great trip!
Sounds like an awesome plan!

We ended up leaving the luggage at the hotel and went back around 8pm to retrieve it. Taking Ubers/cabs during the day took forever due to traffic so we decided to Tube during the day and use Uber in the evening when the traffic died down somewhat.

Also the Caledonian Sleeper is great in theory but LOUD and un-restful in practice. ;)

Thanks for the thoughtful update.

Many people say that about the Cal Sleeper. The Night Riviera from Paddington to Cornwall, using the coaches Cal Sleeper used to have and rejected (but hugely updated by Great Western) is said by many to be a far superior product, and a lot, lot cheaper.

Ugh! That’s disappointing to hear. The Caledonian sleeper that wasn’t. Thanks for reporting back.