The cold weather is starting to creep in, which means it’s time to begin organising your Christmas party.
Unique venues across London have a variety of event spaces, themes and packages ready for the festive season, ranging from the wild and wonderful to the tranquil and traditional.
Options include ice skating and guided tours, as well as seated dinners amongst unusual historical artefacts, twinkling lights and stained glass windows. Whatever your preference, there is an extraordinary setting that can cater to your tastes and ensure your event is a merry one.
Take your pick from one of eight interesting venues set to bring joy to the world – or rather, the capital – this Christmas:
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, ‘Skate at Somerset House’ will once again offer event planners an inspiring, fun and creative option for their 2019 Christmas celebrations.
The world-famous arts venue located on the Thames in the heart of London is offering a wide variety of packages and offers to organisations looking for something different this Christmas.
Christmas receptions, parties, dinners and lunches are available in the East Wing, Portico Room and Navy Board Room as either stand alone, private events or combined with ice-skating under a 40-foot Christmas tree; access to the Fortnum and Mason Lodge; the Fortnum’s Christmas Arcade, which brings a special selection of the iconic grocer’s products for festive shoppers; 24/7 private tours and viewings of Somerset House’s major Autumn/Winter exhibition in the Embankment Galleries; and tours that cover the venue’s place in modern culture.
Spanned by a spectacular glass roof, the National Maritime Museum is the largest of the Royal Museums Greenwich venues and can accommodate seated dinners for up to 500 guests and drinks receptions for up to 1000 guests. Whether you are looking to host dinner and dance or a standing reception, this venue has the capacity for an end-of-year corporate blowout your employees will never forget.
Prices start from £120 + vat and include venue hire from 19.00-midnight, venue staff and security, tables and chairs, a welcome drinks reception with ½ bottle of house wine/water with dinner and a three-course festive menu.
Royal Museums Greenwich also includes the Royal Observatory Greenwich, Queen’s House and Cutty Sark, should these venues be more suitable for your event.
Whether you're looking to host a traditional intimate dinner or a Christmas party which will be talked about well after your New Year’s Resolutions are forgotten, Two Temple Place can make all your Christmas wishes come true.
For an opulent yet cosy Christmas event, grab a drink, pull up a chair and sit by the fireplace as the Christmas tree twinkles by the staircase, all under the splendour of the fabulous stained glass ceiling. You could even sing along to some festive favourites played on the piano, to put everyone in a celebratory mood in the run up to the day itself.
Alternatively, for a Christmas with a difference, use the imposing exterior and the wood panelling of the Great Hall as your blank canvas, and create a quirky Christmas, like the festive rap themed pictured. A delicious musical menu accompanied this fabulously fun event. Have yourself a Ludacris-mas, everyone!
Just as Charles Dickens opened the literary classic, Bleak House, begin a tale to remember this Christmas at Lincoln’s Inn.
The (now) Old Hall at Lincoln’s Inn invites you to a traditional Dickensian Christmas lunch from £90.00pp +VAT, including a welcome reception with sparkling wine and dry snacks, a sumptuous three-course lunch and half a bottle of house wine per guest, followed by coffee and petit fours. Room hire and Christmas theming is included in the price.
The venue accommodates bigger or more intimate affairs in the perfectly preserved space of the hall with an appealing Tudor grandeur that lends itself to tasteful Christmas festivities and decoration.
Not many venues offer better selfie opportunities than Madame Tussauds who open up their London attraction for Christmas parties.
A party at Madame Tussauds promises an opportunity to make a who's who of celebrities and royals selfie album including Santa himself. If you need more team pictures, this is the ideal venue for your event. With shared parties and capacity for 120 to 1000 guests exclusive hire, this location is more than likely to have something suitable for your team.
The Reading Room, located a few minutes from Euston Station with a capacity of 160, is a fantastic space at the heart of the unique Wellcome Collection, a museum connecting science, medicine, life and art. The red furnishings, twinkly lights and bespoke Christmas canapes make the Reading Room a perfect space for a Christmas celebration or a festive product launch.
There’s a wide range of objects in the Reading Room from Wellcome Collection. All of them should fascinate and inspire your guests, including a life mask of Beethoven, 1920s X-ray machine made of wood, steel and rubber, and a dress illustrating neural development.
The venue’s brilliant and flexible chefs can design the perfect Christmas treats for your event. In the past, they have created a fully vegan buffet, a dentistry themed cocktail and a cake in a client’s corporate colours.
Grimm’s fairy tales seem to be in order this year at the Lawrence and Lindley Halls in Westminster and the Greatest Showman still shows no signs of slowing down. When you can suspend two tonnes from each ceiling arch, pretty much anything goes in the Lindley Hall to bring this vibrant circus theme alive. Taking inspiration from this year’s big Disney films both Aladdin and the Lion King themes would look fabulous in the Halls.
Incredibly, there are a few key dates available for organisers to build their dream Christmas landscapes including: 8-11th, 13 – 19th December in the Lindley Hall and 15-19th in the Lawrence Hall which can cater for numbers of up to 1,500 for a reception and 900 for dinner. The Royal Horticultural Halls have hosted a Scandinavian snow-covered pine forest, The Nutcracker and Great Gatsby inspired themes created in our flexible spaces and currently there’s a reduced minimum hire in the Lawrence Hall, making it a great location for large bespoke events.
Guests will experience a Christmas party to remember at Churchill War Rooms, hidden beneath the iconic buildings of Westminster in the heart of London.
Rich in atmosphere, this incredible venue is the very site where Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his cabinet led Britain to victory during the Second World War. This once-secret underground wartime headquarters offers excellent dining facilities to impress clients and colleagues alike.
The venue has three exciting Christmas packages available – ‘Eat, drink and be merry’, ‘Festive get-together and ‘With all the trimmings’, all including delicious three course dinners and drinks receptions themed with traditional festive decorations, 1940s music and opportunities to explore the museum.