St. James's Hotel & Club

St. James's Hotel & Club occupies a red-brick Victorian townhouse on Park Place, a cul-de-sac off St James's Street that has kept the address private for more than a century and a half. The building began as a gentlemen's club in 1857 and still carries the name; today it is a five-star boutique hotel in the Althoff Collection and a member of Leading Hotels of the World.

Events happen on a dedicated floor of four rooms rather than in a ballroom. The Mayfair Suite is the largest, lit from above by a glass roof and lined in gold leather, seating around 34 for dinner or holding 45 for a reception. The Library, with its antique table and shelved books, takes up to 16; the Wellington Boardroom and the smaller Granville suit closer gatherings. All four are air-conditioned, soundproofed and kept apart from the public rooms.

Downstairs, Restaurant Francatelli reworks nineteenth-century English cooking under chef William Drabble, and the kitchen writes menus for private events to match. The scale favours an intimate seated dinner with a DJ over a large party: a single point of contact, a discreet entrance and a room the rest of the hotel never sees.