St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's is a working cathedral first, and its hire programme is built around that. What is offered is not the building itself but five spaces around and beneath it, let for the most part in the evenings: the Crypt, the Nelson Chamber, the Wren Suite, the Chapter House dining rooms and the churchyard gardens. The Cathedral floor remains a place of worship rather than a room on the plan.

The Crypt is the largest in Europe and carries the footprint of the building above it. Its western end takes 350 standing, 250 on round tables or 120 on a single long table, entered through the Churchill Gates and the Nelson Chamber. That chamber sits directly under the Dome, a rotunda arranged around the tomb of Admiral Lord Nelson and floored in mosaic laid by women prisoners at Woking Gaol in the nineteenth century. The Wren Suite, built with stone recovered from the medieval cathedral and still carrying soot from the Great Fire, holds 100 for a reception and comes with a screen, projector and sound system. Chapter House, designed by Wren and his son in 1715, gives two panelled rooms with chandeliers and portraits, looking onto the Dome. The North and South churchyards have been the site of the General Assembly since 1236 and open for summer receptions of up to 350, with the Crypt held as the wet-weather alternative.

Catering comes from the Cathedral's approved list rather than an in-house kitchen, and that list also covers lighting, flowers and entertainment. Availability is the real constraint: most spaces let on weekday evenings, with Friday and Saturday by exception, and the premises licence runs to 11pm with extensions by arrangement. Private tours of the building and performances by the Cathedral's own musicians can be added to an event.