This is a guest post from Tommy Shane, Venue Expert at UK based startup Hire Space. You can follow him @hirespace.
If you start browsing event ideas on Pinterest, you’ll probably stumble across photos of gorgeous, sun-drenched outdoor parties, with their barefoot bohemian charm – only to realise that this is something that you will never, ever get to do! England’s weather is just too unpredictable, too deceptive, too drizzly.
For a successful English summer party, you need a venue that offers the possibility of outdoor frolics, with the guarantee of indoor warmth. Here are five beautiful, reliable, indoor-outdoor venues.
1. Paperworks
Tube carriages, sand pits and palm trees – Paperworks is a weird and wonderful medley of street food, cocktail wizards and – all importantly – ‘weatherproof areas’. Marquees with dangling lights, wood-shacks with tasty, locally-sourced food – this is a perfect indoor-outdoor spot for a summer party.
2. Belgraves
The be-all and end-all of indoor-outdoor flexibility is, of course, the retractable roof. And Belgraves’ New York style terrace has just that, making it one of the city’s best spots for sparking up a vintage Cuban cigar – one of their many specialties. A private, luxurious option in a beautiful venue.
Built over an old Victorian reservoir, The LookOut is only partially visible through Hyde Park’s towering trees, making it an unexpected botanical oasis in an unbelievable location. Yurt-like structures offer a seamless transition between indoor and their stunning landscape gardens.
If anyone’s used to shuffling indoors when the drizzle begins to drop, it’s cricketers. Lord’s Cricket Ground is, therefore, the mecca of rainproof sanctuaries, with beautiful open views without the need for umbrellas. An elegant and iconic option.
5. Drapers Hall
Its garden sprouts in the midst of the concrete jungle, making those colourful blossoming flowers all the more of a relief for the senses. Adjoined to one of the city’s most luxurious venues, full of oil paintings and corinthian columns, it’s a welcome retreat, and a rare one, too.
To enquire about one of these venues, or for the rest of what’s out there, get in touch at hirespace.com
