The Rubens at the Palace
/ About
A 161-room Red Carnation hotel on Buckingham Palace Road, facing the Royal Mews across the street from the palace itself. The site has traded as a hotel since 1912, was requisitioned as the Polish Free State Army's wartime headquarters under General Sikorski, and was taken fully into its current form by a multi-million-pound refurbishment completed in 2018, when it took a Forbes Five-Star classification. That rebuild is also when the ground floor gained its present run of restaurants and bars: the English Grill for British cooking under a Murano chandelier, the Curry Room for Rajasthani-embroidered Indian dining, the Palace Lounge for afternoon tea looking straight over the Mews railings, and the red-lacquered New York Bar. Next door, reached from the hotel via bbar's own building at street level, sit bbar itself, the whisky-and-jazz Leopard Bar and the safari-photography dining room of 43 Below.
The event floor runs to seven named rooms behind the ground-floor restaurants, headed by the Van Dyke Suite - the largest, opening to a reception for 150 beneath its own chandelier - down through the Rembrandt Room, Rubens Suite and Van Gogh Room to the smaller Rubens Room and Da Vinci Room. Every room keeps the same register as the public rooms: gilt-framed medallions, Chiavari chairs, mirrored overmantels, nothing that reads as a bare conference floor.
For a DJ-led private event the Van Dyke Suite's scale and bbar's own building - bar, Leopard Room and 43 Below combinable into one exclusive-hire night - are the two natural starting points, with the smaller rooms suited to a private dinner ahead of it.
/ Rooms Available
bbar
Exclusive HireA cocktail bar and restaurant occupying its own building next to the hotel, reached through the Rubens' interior corridor. Backlit shelving, a marble bar top and leather banquettes carry through to a terrace at street level; the same building runs down to the Leopard Room and 43 Below, and the three combine for a full exclusive-hire buyout.
Van Dyke Suite
Exclusive HireThe largest of the hotel's function rooms, its full-length mirrored ceiling doubling a crystal chandelier over round tables laid for a seated dinner. Framed medallions and blue damask panelling run the length of the room, with double doors opening it out for a reception.
The English Grill
Exclusive HireThe hotel's British restaurant, its blue dining room anchored by a pair of Chinese guardian-lion statues under a Murano chandelier. Serves breakfast daily and takes private dining bookings for the room or a full buyout.
Rembrandt Room
PrivateA dining room dressed for evening service, tall silver candelabra and white floral arrangements running the length of a long table beneath a crystal chandelier. Sits alongside the Van Gogh Room behind a moveable partition.
The Palace Lounge
PrivateA striped, red-curtained lounge on the Buckingham Palace Road frontage, its window seats looking straight through the Royal Mews gates. Serves the hotel's afternoon tea and takes private bookings for a smaller drinks reception.
43 Below
PrivateA lower-ground dining room hung with black-and-white wildlife photography, its mirrored back wall opening onto bbar's own bar. Round tables dress for an intimate dinner ahead of a night upstairs.
Rubens Suite
PrivateA wood-panelled meeting room with its own breakout corridor for tea and coffee service, a screen displaying the hotel's own branding at one end.
Van Dyke Room
Semi PrivateThe subdivided section of the Van Dyke floor, its partition walls opened here to reveal three chandeliered bays laid for a wedding breakfast. Books independently of the full Suite for a smaller sitting.
The Curry Room
Exclusive HireAn Indian restaurant finished in deep red leather and Rajasthani textile hangings, its booths built for a private party rather than a passing table.
Van Gogh Room
PrivateA boardroom set beneath a gilt-framed overmantel mirror, leather-backed chairs around a dressed table with a built-in projector screen to one side.
The Leopard Bar
PrivateA wood-panelled whisky bar off the ground-floor corridor, leopard-print cushions on leather club chairs, a mirrored back-bar stocked deep in single malts and champagne. Described on the hotel's own listing as hosting live jazz and swing.
The New York Bar
PrivateA red-lacquered cocktail bar with a marble fireplace and vintage railway-poster artwork, leather stools running the length of a mirrored back-bar.
Da Vinci Room
PrivateThe hotel's smallest meeting room, matching the Rubens Room in scale and finish for a private breakfast briefing or a small boardroom sitting.
Rubens Room
PrivateThe smallest of the named function rooms, a boardroom table set beneath a gilt overmantel mirror against a blue-panelled fireplace wall.
Buckingham Room
PrivateOne of the three rooms that combine to form the Van Dyke Suite, alongside the Van Dyke Room and the Van Gogh Room. No standalone capacity is published.
/ Perfect For
/ Features
Catering
- – In-House Luxury Dining
- – Private Bar
- – Cocktail Programme
- – Bespoke Menus
- – Canape Service
Venue Specs
- – Dedicated Events Team
- – Air Conditioned
- – Outdoor Terrace
/ Getting Here
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