The London Library
/ About
Founded in 1841 and still run for its members, The London Library occupies 14 St James's Square: seven interlocking buildings behind a modest façade, holding seventeen miles of open-access shelving and over a million books. Charles Dickens was a founding member. Four Poet Laureates and ten Nobel Prize winners have followed him onto the roll.
Hire is exclusive, and the building is taken whole — Wednesday to Saturday after 5.30pm, or all day on Sunday. The Reading Room is the space everything turns on, its book-lined walls rising two storeys to ironwork balustrades that look out across the square, and it takes 200 for a reception, 100 at dinner, or 120 standing once a dance floor goes in. Guests arrive through the Issue Hall, where the old Librarian's desk becomes the bar and the evening can end in music.
Around those two sit the yellow Study with its original Robert Adam fireplace, the Art Room above the art and architecture collection, the bronze-panelled Foyle Lightwell Reading Room built into a former central lightwell that rises four storeys, and the Stoppard Room under its mezzanine. Catering runs through an approved supplier list. The house provides projection, screen, speakers and microphones, and will open the back stacks for a tour or lay out books chosen for the guests. Legal ceremonies must be held elsewhere, so weddings here are receptions.
/ Rooms Available
The Reading Room
Exclusive HireThe historic heart of the Library and its main event space, with double-height book-lined walls, ironwork balustrades and windows onto St James's Square. The balustrade level is used for speeches and short performances, giving guests below a clear view. It seats 100 at dinner, holds 200 for a reception, and takes 120 standing once a dance floor is laid.
The Issue Hall
Exclusive HireReached straight off St James's Square through the Library's main door, the Issue Hall is the arrival room: a registration point, a cloakroom in front of the members' lockers, and a bar built on the old Librarian's desk. It works as the drinks reception before dinner in the Reading Room, and turns over to dancing and music at the end of the night.
The New Room
PrivateThe Library's newest hireable room, lined in sage-green panelling with glass-fronted bookcases and large-format book-cover artwork. A screen and projector are fitted, and the floor is clear enough to run a standing reception or turn the room over to a seated presentation.
The Art Room
PrivateRecently refurbished and built above the Library's art and architecture collection, with glazed galleries looking down over the stacks. It reads as the contemporary counterweight to the Reading Room, and is used for smaller receptions, for drinks before dinner, or as a private room for a few guests during a larger event.
The Foyle Lightwell Reading Room
PrivateBuilt into a former central lightwell that rises four storeys, panelled in bronze and open to glimpses of every wing of the building. The Library's most contemporary room, used for a small reception after a tour of the stacks, or held back as a green room on larger nights.
The Stoppard Room
PrivateNext door to the Reading Room and also published as the Writers' Room: brass-grilled bookcases on a mezzanine, high ceilings and rows of reading desks under their own lamps. It seats 25 for a presentation and holds 30 standing, and is the room most often taken for filming and photography. Let separately on Fridays.
The Study
PrivateDirectly opposite the Reading Room, in faux-regency yellow with an original Robert Adam fireplace and an arched window above the table. It seats 15 for dinner and takes 30 standing. On larger nights it becomes the field kitchen, which is why caterers reach the Reading Room and the lift so easily; it is let separately on Fridays.
The Carr Room
PrivateA small boardroom for 15, taken for a committee meeting or a briefing alongside an event elsewhere in the building.
/ Perfect For
/ Features
AV Equipment
- – Projector
- – PA System
- – Microphone
Catering
- – External Catering Allowed
- – Private Bar
- – Canape Service
Licensing
- – Full Alcohol Licence
Venue Specs
- – Dedicated Events Team
- – Cloakroom
- – Wheelchair Accessible
- – Air Conditioned
- – Wi-Fi
/ Getting Here
/ You May Also Consider
