London Venues Where You Can Use Your Own Caterers?

by Alexandra
(London, UK)

Having got engaged recently, I am now making preliminary enquiries as to where I can have the reception.

My brother is a professional chef and has a great caterer that I want to use who will only charge me at cost plus the cost of any staff, which is an offer I can't refuse!

Please can you give me some pointers on London venues where I can use my own caterers and also provide my own alcohol (with no huge corkage fees!)?
Many thanks
Alexandra

Answer:

There are literally hundreds of venues that you could use in London that will allow you to do your own catering. You could start off with town halls and church halls which are usually lovely old buildings and have their own catering facilities that you can use.

Sports clubs are also good venues and also have their own catering facilities. If you choose a rowing club, you’ll probably also get stunning views of the Thames thrown in for free!

Museums or arts centres are also a good bet, but you’d need to enquire on an individual basis if you can bring in your own caterers. Many venues insist that you use their preferred caterers, but some will not, one such venue is the Battersea Arts Centre – it only charges a surcharge for use of the catering facilities. It’s a stunning, grand building too.

If you’re looking for something a bit different, then you could try www.funkyvenues.com which provides listings of all sorts of interesting venue spaces in London (other than hotels, restaurants, bars etc). Again, you’d need to enquire with the individual venues themselves if you can bring in your own caterers. Some of them aren’t cheap though!

There are also boats on the River Thames that can be hired. Many of them allow you to do your own catering for a surcharge. An alternative to a boat on the River Thames is a barge on the Regents Canal from the picturesque Little Venice. Again, you can provide your own catering and the barge holds up to 60 people. These would certainly make a memorable venue!

I hope that’s given you some food for thought (no pun intended)!