London pub wedding venues
My favourite London Pub wedding venues
The best pubs in London for your wedding reception
What’s not to love about a London pub wedding? If you want a relaxed, cool, wedding reception venue where you don’t need to co-ordinate everything, where they have an on-site kitchen and beer on tap, pubs are kind of ready made for good times.
Many pubs, especially those in the city or around Clerkenwell/Farringdon are experienced wedding venues too – for a lot of these pubs, all their custom comes in during the week, so they often flip into wedding mode.
Here’s some reasons to have your wedding reception in a London pub.
- It’s a great way to host your wedding in your own neighbourhood
- A relaxed, low-key feel
- No need to hire in tables, chairs, glass ware etc so may make wedding planning easier
- Feels appropriately ‘London’
- Not going to run out of booze….
- Cool decor already so you don’t need to go wild adding your own (unless you want)
So here’s a non definitive list of some of my favourite pub wedding venues in London. if you don’t like the look of any of these options, why not ask your favourite local boozer – they may hire the whole space out for a minimum spend, or perhaps they have a room you can use.
Pub wedding venues in East London
The Peasant EC1
240 St John St, London EC1V 4PH
Ideally located just down the road from Islington Town Hall, this pub has a great old school interior, with red walls and a eclectic collection of posters – vintage music downstairs and Polish circus posters upstairs. It’s available for exclusive hire, and having both floors available is a massive bonus – you can start with arrival drinks downstairs and head upstairs for food and speeches, and then come down and party without the room needing to be re-arranged. The food is excellent and the team are really friendly and welcoming.
See more weddings at The Peasant…
Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4WY
Situated near Liverpool Street this is a deceptively great venue – during the week it’s a fairly average post work/lunchtime meeting kinda gig, but they can put on a truly awesome wedding by using their outdoor space (which is actually covered, and therefore weather proof) – sometimes to create outdoor dining but almost always for an outdoor ceremony. There aren’t many London spaces that can host outdoor events like this, so it’s pretty unique. In the evening, the action heads inside and they’ve got plenty of space for a dance floor.
58 Gresham St, London EC2V 5AY
Another City pub turned cool wedding reception location – also owned by Drake & Morgan. It’s got a cool, contemporary interior, nice food, loads of space and is pretty much opposite The Guildhall, which is a cool location for some photos
70 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QP
On vibrant Exmouth Market, this bar-with-a-basement can be hired out in it’s entireity, half Industrial, half Victorian den of inequity with its vibrant gin tiles, it’s a super fun location.
See Kaia & John’s wedding at The Coin Laundry
1 City Rd, London EC2A 2BH
This is a new one to me – as I’m heading there for the first time in 2023! Not far from the Old Street roundabout, this bar is in an old sewing machine. Like lots of other similar bars on the City/Shoreditch fringes, it has a cool interior and they know how to do cocktails!
66 W Smithfield, London EC1A 9DY
On Smithfield market, this is a handsome building, slightly elevated from the street with big windows and a super cool balcony. It’s got a stage so it’s absolutely perfect for bands, or even rock karaoke (like one of my weddings here featured!). It’s also wonderfully cosy for a winter wedding, as they have twinkling lights in the windows.
See Emily & Peter’s wedding at Balfour St Barts
26 Farringdon St, London EC4A 4AB
Another great City venue, this one tucked away by Holborn viaduct with an underground speakeasy cocktail bar. It’s also got great air conditioning, which was very useful on a baking hot August day.
Pub wedding venues in North London
163 Royal College St, London NW1 0SGI
Another classic pub, this one near Camden Rock station. It’s got good access to the canal for some photos, and you can either rent the whole pub or just the upstairs. The food is great too, and it’s both light filled, and full of cool colours and textures.
The Londesborough
https://www.thelondesborough.com/
36 Barbauld Rd, London N16 0SS
An absolute gem of a pub reception venue for weddings at Stoke Newington Town Hall – it’s a short walk from there. Run by the same team who head up The Peasant, the food is also great and it has a little garden out of the back which is perfect for summer weddings.
See Morgan & Jakes’s wedding at The Londesborough
52 Lloyd Baker St, London WC1X 9AA
Not far from Kings Cross, this is quite a pubby pub, with an upstairs dining room and downstairs bar. Not far from either Marylebone or Islington.
44 Barnsbury St, London N1 1ER
An elegant pale blue building in Islington’s genteel back streets – the Drapers Arms is fairly pubby, albeit it in a kind of upmarket N1 kind of way, but has a lovely dining room upstairs which is the perfect space for all kinds of lovely wedding goings-on.
21 Canonbury Pl, London N1 2NS
This is a spacious, light pub over in Canonbury – again the ideal location for after a wedding at Islington Town Hall. I’ve photographed big weddings here, where they’ve hired out the whole space, and small weddings where they’ve just used one of the upstairs room for a 2020-era microwedding. It’s lovely for both, and has a big garden out the back.
See Lisa & Craig’s wedding at the Canonbury
Carpenters Mews, 1, North Road, London N7 9EF
A great big, industrial style space that’s also a pub – I’ve covered it in a little more detail in my blog post about warehouse wedding venues but it’s a great, big, versatile space with a handy little courtyard.
See Sian & Auto’s wedding at The Depot
Pub wedding venues in South London
211 Lordship Ln, London SE22 8HA
A great go-to for weddings at Asylum – this is a popular pub on Lordship Lane. It’s got tasteful interiors, the food is good and room for dancing, plus a kind of tardis like back garden – you can fit way more people into it then you’d guess!
See Gemma & Paul’s wedding at The Lordship
1 Lordship Ln, London SE22 8EW
In a similar vein to the above, they have an upstairs room with it’s own access. This pub is part of the Antic group, who own a number of pubs, some in unusual buildings, throughout the London burbs.
7-9 Ramsden Rd, London SW12 8QX
As with the EDT, the Balham Bowls Club is owned by Antic, and it’s a huuuuuge space. Their dedicated upstairs ballroom have a deliberately retro, shabby feel – it kind of feels like an old bingo club in the best possible way.
40 Stuart Rd, London SE15 3BE
Sorry, not sorry, for there being an undeniable lean towards pub wedding venues in South East London here – once a SE’er, always an SE’er but this is also a great choice. One of the first community owned pubs after locals clubbed together to stop it being bought out by developers. It has it’s own back room and dedicated event space which regularly hosts gig, an ever changing rotation of craft beer and a stage with a gold glitter back drop – what’s not to like!
See Mallory & Luca’s wedding at The Ivy House
1 Clayton Rd, London SE15 5JA
If you fancy keeping things super informal, this is a pretty cool spot. A short walk away if you’re getting married at Asylum, it has a private events space upstairs with its own bar and food is by White Men Can’t Jerk.
85 Albert Bridge Rd, London SW11 4PF
Convenient for Chelsea Town hall (so, is this technically West London?) – this pub has a dedicated upstairs room that I’ve seen transformed into a super chic space. A stones throw from the Albert Bridge and Battersea Park, it’s a bit of a lesser known gem, though it’s interior is a little more heavy and traditional than some of the other, more industrial style pubs I’ve mentioned.
See Lis & Matt’s chic wedding at The Prince Albert
The Swan at The Globe
21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT
Want a pub wedding, but want it to be in an iconic venue with unmatched views of the river? This spot is both a pub and a wedding venue, or you can rent a private dining room for a smaller, more low key celebration. For bigger weddings, the entire top floor is available and they’re licensed for ceremonies too.
65 Camberwell Church St, London SE5 8TR
Great if you’re getting married at Southwark register office (as it’s literally across the road) but super accessible from a lot of other key location venues in South London like Lambeth. This is a lovely food focussed pub (the best is exceptional) and what it lack in size, it makes up for in quality and style. There’s not much room for mingling or for dancing, but if you’re happy to have a multi location wedding, and head elsewhere for a big old knees up, then this is a wonderful choice.
Pub wedding venues in West London
I have to confess – West London is definitely my blind spot when it comes to pub wedding venues – there are so many other amazing wedding venues in this part of London – so why not take a look at my London wedding venue guides?
9 Phene St, London SW3 5NY
The Phene is a Chelsea Pub, tucked away between the Kings Road and the river and it’s awfully pretty around there. like so, so pretty. They’re licensed to hold weddings too, so you can hold the whole thing there.
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