Westminster Abbey
/ About
The Abbey hires five spaces in its grounds, and none of them is the church itself. What a guest gets instead is the enclosure around it: a medieval undercroft, a 13th-century cloister, a walled garden that has been cultivated for nine hundred years, and a gallery seventy feet above the nave.
The Cellarium is the room most evenings are built on. It is the vaulted store where the Benedictine monks kept their food and drink, and it takes 80 at table or 120 standing under the stone ribs. The Cellarium Terrace beside it is the modern half, glazed towards the west towers, for 40 at dinner. The Cloisters are open-air on one side and hire for a reception of 400 across the east and north walks. College Garden takes 850 for a reception, with a marquee in June and July seating 240. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries, in the triforium under the medieval roof timbers, hold 100 for drinks and are usually taken alongside a dinner in the Cellarium.
The Abbey works on a dry hire, with catering from its own list of approved suppliers, and a private tour of the church can be arranged for guests. Nothing else in London is quite this close to the middle of the state occasion.
/ Rooms Available
College Garden
Exclusive HireA walled garden of nine hundred years, believed to be the longest continually cultivated garden in England, with the Abbey and the Victoria Tower above the wall. It takes 850 for a reception. A clear-span marquee stands through June and July seating 240; outside those months one is built to the event's own requirements.
The Cloisters
Exclusive HireThe 13th-century arcade around the Garth, open to the grass on one side and vaulted on the other. The east and north walks together take a reception of 400 or a dinner of 100; a single walk takes 200 and 80.
The Cellarium
PrivateThe 14th-century undercroft where the monks stored their food and drink, still under its original stone vaulting. An evening room: 80 at table or 120 standing.
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries
PrivateThe triforium, seventy feet above the Abbey floor, under the medieval roof timbers and looking down the length of the nave. It takes 100 for a drinks reception, usually before a dinner in the Cellarium. The objects on display set the limit rather than the floor area.
The Cellarium Terrace
PrivateThe modern room beside the Cellarium, timber-ceilinged and glazed towards the Abbey's west towers, with its own outdoor area. Forty at dinner, sixty standing.
/ Perfect For
/ Features
Catering
- – External Catering Allowed
- – Bespoke Menus
Licensing
- – Full Alcohol Licence
Venue Specs
- – Dedicated Events Team
/ Getting Here
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