Barber-Surgeons' Hall

Barber-Surgeons' Hall sits behind a gate in Monkwell Square, off Wood Street, the City livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Barbers since the 1440s. The wartime Hall was destroyed in the Blitz; the current building opened on 13 May 1969, when the Queen Mother performed the ceremony and accepted honorary membership of the Company.

The Great Hall is the venue's principal space: panelled in Japanese oak, lit by Waterford crystal chandeliers, and bowed to the west to mirror the footprint of its predecessor. Holbein's group portrait of Henry VIII uniting the Barbers' and Surgeons' Companies hangs on the end wall, and the room opens directly onto the terrace. Three further spaces sit off the main hall: the Reception Room, bright and fitted out to display the Company's collection of barbers' bowls dating to 1680; the Court Room, with stained glass and windows on two sides; and the adjoining Charter Room, an intimate anteroom hung with the Company's historic charters and wax seals.

Outside, a paved and gated terrace looks over the Company's physic garden, planted in 1987 against a surviving stretch of the Roman London Wall. Private hire runs through the Hall's catering partner, Searcys City Events.