City Social

Twenty-four floors up Tower 42, City Social is Jason Atherton's restaurant and bar in the heart of the Square Mile, with the Gherkin filling the windows and the City laid out below. Atherton and head chef Paul Walsh cook modern British food, and the room is pure low-lit drama: dark panelling, curved leather banquettes, art deco lighting and floor-to-ceiling glass that turns the skyline into the dining room's fourth wall. The restaurant held a Michelin star for a decade before relinquishing it in early 2025, and it remains one of the City's most theatrical high-altitude rooms.

The social heart of the floor is Social 24, a semi-exclusive cocktail bar serving drinks built around the landmarks visible through the glass. For private events there are three distinct spaces. The Private Dining Suite is the showpiece, a self-contained art deco room of gold-grid ceilings and illuminated fan-pattern walls with its own lobby for pre-dinner drinks. The Private Dining Room runs a long single table or rounds beneath the same gilded detailing, and the Chef's Table sits behind glass overlooking the starter kitchen for a closer view of the pass.

Taken whole, the venue holds up to 350 for a standing reception, and its height, sightlines and self-contained floor make it a natural fit for an intimate, music-led private event well above the street.