The last of Des Gunewardena’s three rooms in Olympia’s Grade II* Pillar Hall is a double-height events space under a mezzanine, due in spring 2027 and built for a crowd of five hundred.
Built in 1886 beside Olympia’s Grand Hall, Pillar Hall was the site of one of the first film screenings in Britain and, in 1981, the backdrop for Vivienne Westwood’s ‘Pirate’ collection. Its upper floors are now being fitted out as Upstairs at Pillar Hall, a double-height events space from Des Gunewardena’s D3 Collective, which Olympia lists for spring 2027.
Three rooms in one listed hall
Upstairs is the third of three venues Gunewardena, co-founder and former chief executive of D&D London, set out to open inside the Grade II* building as part of Olympia’s £1.3bn redevelopment. The trio was announced for spring 2026. Idalia, an all-day restaurant of 300 covers on the ground floor, and Pepperbird, a basement bar built around live music, are now trading. Idalia serves from breakfast at 7am to dinner until 9pm, and Pepperbird opens from Thursday to Saturday, 7pm to 11.30pm. The upper floors have taken longer.
The same kitchen serves all three. Samantha Williams, formerly executive chef at Jeremy King’s The Park and group executive chef for Angela Hartnett, leads it, with Lorena Tommasi, whose experience includes Annabel’s and Josephine by Claude Bosi, as executive pastry chef. The operator describes the cooking as modern British.
A mezzanine over the floor
Henry Edward Coe, the architect of the Grand Hall, designed Pillar Hall, and Robert Angell Design International has worked a modern interior into its classical structure. The published plans keep the soaring ceilings, the ornate pillars and the mouldings, and add a mezzanine overlooking the main floor.
The operator’s own render shows the room laid for a banquet, with round tables running towards a stage under a sculpted plaster ceiling. It is a proposed design, and the finished room is still to be seen.
Weekdays private, weekends open
Upstairs is intended to work two ways. During the week it will be available for private events; on Friday nights and at weekends it will open as a restaurant and bar with live music. Olympia has hosted Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and The Who.
For exclusive hire, the first floor and mezzanine together take 350 seated or 525 standing. The full mezzanine takes 100 seated or 175 standing, and half of it 50 seated or 70 standing. The operator also offers the room for weddings, and it has lift access.
The hall, at 5 Olympia Way, sits beside Kensington (Olympia) station, which is served by the London Overground’s Mildmay line and Southern trains. West Kensington and Barons Court Underground stations are a short walk away.