Unique venues are ideal for events that pack a punch, but that’s not all. Hosting an event at an unusual location helps feed back into the cultural heritage of London and sustains the venue’s ongoing work, preserving it for future generations.
Many venues are also registered charities, which means hiring them for events directly supports a variety of worthy causes, educational and community programmes.
Here are six interesting venues that you can hire for your next gathering, and in turn support the growth of the capital and its numerous charitable organisations:
Hosting an event at the Natural History Museum allows wider audiences to visit and support the museum. With thousands of visitors walking through our doors every day, an evening function at the institution offers event attendees the chance to witness the amazing spaces and exhibits on offer after hours. Venue hire activity is one of the key ways in which admission to the museum is free for all daytime visitors, allowing generations to enjoy this iconic cultural destination.
Furthermore, the Natural History Museum’s venue-hire packages not only add value for event organisers and attendees but also help the museum as a leading scientific institution, showcasing both the building and discoveries to smaller audiences, and giving people the chance to truly engage with its event spaces and significant historic works of discovery and preservation.
Kew is a global resource for botanical knowledge. The Gardens hold some of the largest and most diverse collections of living and preserved specimens in the world. These extensive collections are utilised by scientists and horticulturists alike for cutting-edge research and conservation in collaboration with partners worldwide. Kew’s leading scientific research and conservation work revolves around developing and maintaining diverse living plant collections, supporting plant conservation programmes and researching answers to huge global problems such as the hunger crisis. It also helps to expand visitors’ understanding of the importance and beauty of plants and protecting the environment.
Venue hire is just one of the many ways that Kew fundraises for its valuable conservation work and vital scientific research, so your event really will make a difference and help save the planet.
When you plan an event at LSO St Luke's, your hire fee supports the education work of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) through LSO Discovery. The LSO is passionately committed to making music available to everyone, and engages closely with the underprivileged in east London boroughs as part of an extensive and innovative programme at LSO St Luke's. This includes work with the community, supporting music education with all ages and investing in young talent, as well as using multimedia technology to link people throughout the UK and internationally.
LSO is a registered charity and for it to continue to thrive, the Orchestra seeks ongoing support from individuals and companies each year. Through their support, LSO St Luke’s is able to invest in music education and ensure that LSO St Luke's remains at the heart of the community.
The Royal Horticultural Halls were originally built by the Royal Horticultural Society in the early 20th century to house their botanical exhibitions and artwork displays. These in-house exhibitions have now grown to become the prestigious RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows. However, once every season the Lindley and sometimes Lawrence Halls go back to their roots and are transformed into a floral haven once again. In bringing the outside inside, the shows that still take place in the Halls are important for reaching the London-based audience of RHS members and non-members who can’t perhaps travel out to experience an RHS garden in all its glory.
By hiring the Halls each client will actively support the charitable projects of the RHS. ‘Inspiring Everyone to Grow’ the RHS has endless initiatives designed to get the nation gardening. These include educational courses with qualifications and campaigns such as Britain in Bloom, Greening Grey Britain and the RHS Campaign for School Gardening, with 37,000 schools currently taking part. The RHS is also one of the biggest innovators in horticultural science and research, safeguarding the conservation and biodiversity of the UK. The next upcoming London Show will be The Botanic Art Show in the Lindley Hall, taking place on Wednesday 24–Thursday 25 July 2019 with a late evening event on Tuesday 23rd July.
The unique venue sector is saturated with incredible spaces, and with each hailing their respective individuality and quirks it can be difficult for event planners to choose a venue from those available. One criterion that is increasingly on the event-booking agenda is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
At the Science Museum - and across the Science Museum Group - the overarching goal is to inspire futures. This is achieved not only by opening its galleries and exhibitions to a wider audience by hosting corporate and private events, but by generating revenue that in turn allows them to cast the net wide and make an impact into the future.
The Science Museum Group has clear ambitions over the next decade to continue to inspire visitors with award-winning exhibitions, iconic objects and stories of incredible scientific achievement through various activities. One such activity is the One Collection project: a new storage facility which will house more than 80% of the Science Museum Group’s collection once complete.
One Collection will open regularly from 2023, enabling the public, school groups and researchers to see much more of our collection. By providing experiences that enable more people to make deeper connections with science, the museum can change attitudes towards its wider value in society and promote STEM-related careers.
Historic Royal Palaces
Historic Royal Palaces is the independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace. Income raised from activities at the palaces, including venue hire, is reinvested in conservation, public access and education activities to ensure they remain well maintained and open for all to enjoy.
With over 2,300 years of collective history across the portfolio of palaces to protect, Historic Royal Palaces’ event teams are expert in finding the balance between conserving these iconic spaces for generations to come, while continuing to deliver creative and imaginative events within the historic spaces, ensuring a guaranteed breathtaking and awe-inspiring experience for guests.
In order to keep inspiring wonder for the years ahead, as well as preserving the stories of the past, venue hire is a vital part of Historic Royal Palaces activity.