The British Museum

The British Museum occupies Robert Smirke's Greek Revival quadrangle on Great Russell Street, at the centre of Bloomsbury. Its event life runs on the Great Court, the two-acre space Norman Foster enclosed under a glass-and-steel lattice roof in 2000, wrapping the circular former Reading Room at its heart. By day it is the largest covered public square in Europe; after hours it clears for private receptions and dinners beneath the tessellated canopy.

Beyond the court, the museum opens a run of its Grade I galleries for seated dinners and receptions among the collection. The Enlightenment Gallery, the restored King's Library and the museum's oldest room, seats dinners the length of its neoclassical hall; the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery sets tables among the monumental statuary; and the Wellcome Trust and Nereid rooms take smaller groups. Hire is arranged through the museum's commercial team, with catering by its approved suppliers, Benugo and By Word of Mouth among them.

For a client the draw is scale paired with provenance: a thousand guests for a standing reception in the Great Court, four hundred for a seated dinner, or a single gallery set for a table after the public has left. Curator-led tours, access to the objects and after-hours entry are handled by a dedicated events team. Music and production are agreed with the museum case by case rather than fixed, in keeping with a working collection.