11 London Party Venues for a Festive Get-Together

Whether you’re planning a festive brunch o’clock fiesta in Fitzrovia or a sparkling evening soirée in Southwark, these 11 London party pads are our go-to favourites for group dining (and dancing)

Step one when planning a party? Deciding where to throw it. Whatever festivities you have in mind - be it a blow-out dinner with your 20 nearest and dearest or an 80-head shindig that needs a bartender to boot - we've drawn up a list of our favourite London party venues to take the hardest part of the planning off your hands. Now, all you need to worry about is the guest list…

Let's dance: London's perfect party venues

Candlelit table at Brunswick House
Photo credit: Alexander Baxter

bar

Brunswick House

Vauxhall

A charmer of a spot, Grade-II listed Brunswick House is all things to all (wo)men. It's a restaurant, café-bar, garden… the list goes on. Situated in Vauxhall, the Georgian mansion's antique-filled rooms are all available for hire - in fact, you can hire out the entire house exclusively if you fancy: sip cocktails on the ground floor, feast on the first floor and party in the cellar, perhaps? We're big fans of The Vaults, which was recently renovated and is available for group bookings of 12 to 24 guests. Side note: the multi-hyphenated food offering is operated by Jackson and Frank Boxer (of Orasay and Frank's Café fame respectively).

Address

30 Wandsworth Rd, SW8 2LG

The green Marx Room at Quo Vadis
Photo credit: Helen Cathcart

restaurant

Quo Vadis

Soho

Accommodating anything from eight to 100 guests, Dean Street's Quo Vadis has three tempting private dining rooms - The Blue Room, The Library and The Marx Room - to whet your party-planning appetite. Choose to host your event in one room or across them all, with private spaces available to both members and non-members. The property has a richly storied past - Karl Marx began writing Das Kapital in the elegant, airy and versatile upstairs room now named after him.

Address

26-29 Dean St, W1D 3LL

A mirror-ceiling in a dining room
Photo credit: Jérôme Galland

restaurant

Gloria

Shoreditch

Amalfi Coast-inspired, over-the-top Italian food, eccentric interiors and a basement disco bar with velvet booths? Few things scream "party" more than Shoreditch's ultra-extra Gloria. Keep daytime celebrations upstairs in the airy and verdant dining room, feasting on truffle-infused tartufo pasta, supersized pizzas and the restaurant group's famously fabulous tiramisu, or take your nighttime soirées downstairs, fuelled by balsamic vinegar-flecked negronis, pomegranate mojitos and peachy bellinis. The restaurant takes bookings for groups of eight to 16 diners (with a set sharing menu priced from £58pp), and the basement is available for private hire. Seeking something smaller? The hidden-away, candelabra-filled Wine Room is perfect for up to 25 friends.

Address

54-56 Great Eastern St, EC2A 3QR

The distressed interiors of Sessions Arts Club
Photo credit: Louise Long

restaurant

Sessions Arts Club

Clerkenwell

A bit of a heartthrob on the restaurant scene, Sessions Art Club oozes charisma. Led by artist Jonny Gent and chef Florence Knight, the restaurant, wine bar and gallery space is a characterful choice for party hosts with artistic flair (and a penchant for blackberry bellinis). Championing great food and good vibes, the beautifully restored, distressed-chic Clerkenwell dining room comes complete with stripped plaster walls and big arched windows, offering a seriously cool backdrop to festivities big and small. Reservations are tricky (in other words, everyone who's anyone is on the waiting list), so going private might save you the wait. If a £4,000 hire charge (and £6,000 minimum spend) doesn't provoke heart palpitations, you'll be able to invite 60 guests for exclusive use.

Address

Old Sessions House, 24 Clerkenwell Grn, EC1R 0NA

A dimly lit dining space at Annabel's

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Annabel's

Mayfair

The party spot that needs no introduction, Annabel's knows how to have a good time. While you'll need to be a member to host a gathering here, if a glamorous night (or day) is what you're after, few places in London can surpass this lady. You'll have your choice of six restaurants, bars, private dining rooms and a cigar salon when working out where best to celebrate. Whatever you decide, Martin Brudnizki's fanciful designs will get your guests chattering and, as the night progresses, a jaunt downstairs to the jungle-themed nightclub will prove an enticing diversion.

Address

46 Berkeley Sq, W1J 5AT

restaurant

Coal Rooms

Peckham

Housed in the Grade II-listed former ticket office of Peckham Rye train station, Coal Rooms plates up a gutsy set menu of grilled meat and fish for evening get-togethers. Book out the elegant private dining room upstairs (there's space for 38) for a dashing dinner that might include 40-day-aged sirloin on the bone, malt-glazed king oyster mushrooms with a tarragon emulsion and flaky North Sea cod smothered in pork belly lardo. Looking for something a little more lively? Coal Rooms also offers the hire of a private bar, complete with a 1am licence. The icing on the cake, though, is that trains home are just around the corner.

Address

11A Station Way, SE15 4RX

A corner shot at The Twenty Two

restaurant

The Twenty Two

Mayfair

This proverbial new kid on the block has already developed quite the reputation for its party-throwing capabilities - see Burberry's LFW party and Kate Moss' Cosmoss launch party for reference. Follow suit and host a soirée of your own at The Twenty Two, choosing the club's dining room, basement Music Room or The Vaults as your venue, depending on the scale of your plans. For something more intimate, opt for the private dining room, which seats 22 people (of course). With lush interiors, a prime location and an electric energy, this one is a bit of a no-brainer. To maximise on the celebrations, book one of 31 guest rooms and let the good times roll on into Sunday.

Address

22 Grosvenor Sq, W1K 6LF

restaurant

Bistrotheque

Bethnal Green

A fashion-crowd favourite, Bistrotheque is east London's supremely cool bistro-style eatery. For a daytime event, you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere that does brunch and cocktails better (side note: there's a resident pianist playing from the baby grand in the corner of the airy, all-white dining room). Come evening, for something a little more secluded, take advantage of its private dining room, which, like the main space, sports exposed brick walls, industrial lighting and wildly romantic floral displays.

Address

23-27 Wadeson St, E2 9DR

Bourne & Hollingswoth's Below Hidden

bar

Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings

Clerkenwell

Start tame at multi-faceted-clubhouse Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings in Clerkenwell. Enjoy pre-dinner drinks on the outdoor terrace, before tucking into a three-course meal inside a foliage-filled conservatory. Then, rev things up a gear at Below & Hidden, the restaurant's tiny basement club (it's about the size of your living room) - taking far too many selfies by the LED-lit tapestry-covered walls is practically a rite of passage here.

Address

42 Northampton Rd, EC1R 0HU

The brasserie at The Maine

restaurant

The Maine

Mayfair

Put on the ritz at The Maine - a rather glamorous, New England-inspired brasserie housed in an 18th-century townhouse in the heart of Mayfair. You can cherry-pick precisely where to throw your bash in the building, choosing from five rooms arranged over three floors. Our top choices? The foliage-swaddled terrace (formerly stables) and the moody Brasserie & Tavern. At the latter, kick off your night with champagne and oysters to the sounds of a live jazz band. Chin chin.

Address

6 Medici Ct, W1S 1JY

restaurant

Langan’s

Mayfair

Langan's has gained quite a name for itself as a party venue over the decades. Now, following its recent spruce-up, it's even more appealing. The Private Dining Room, which seats 22, has its own private entrance and bar, ensuring your event remains truly intimate: the contemporary art, a scene-stealing chandelier and rich green lacquer surrounds make this PDR a shoo-in. Ascent Langan's sweeping staircase to find the scarlet-hued late-night lounge, which features live music Thursday to Saturday - it's the perfect place for a sharpener and a boogie into the early hours.

Address

Stratton St, W1J 8LB

This article was updated 24 November 2022.

Andrew Edmunds, Exterior

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