Almost every guide to private dining rooms in London lists the rooms and not the only number that decides anything: how many people each one actually holds, and in what arrangement.
That is not one number. It is four, and they are wildly different. Get it wrong and you have booked a room that seats your party for dinner and cannot stand them up afterwards.
Capacity is four numbers, not one
Take the largest private room at Quo Vadis, which publishes its own figures properly. The Marx Room seats 24 on one oval table. The same room seats 32 across four small rectangular tables. It holds 45 standing. It takes 30 theatre style.
So “capacity 45” would be true and useless. If you have 28 guests and you want them at one table, that room does not work, and you will only discover it after the deposit.
Decide the format before you enquire. One table or several. Seated or standing. Facing each other or facing a screen. Then ask for the capacity in that format and no other.
Quo Vadis
- Address
- 26 to 29 Dean Street, Soho, W1D 3LL
- Nearest
- Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square
- Booking
- 020 7437 9585
- Standing
- Three private rooms on the second floor, plus the Blue Room at certain times
How to get in
It is a restaurant and a private members' club, and people assume the rooms are members only. They are not: the event spaces are available to both members and non-members. Adjacent rooms or the full top floor can be combined for up to 100.
Three rooms, all published with real numbers.
The Marx Room is the largest: 24 seated on one oval table, 32 across four rectangular tables, 45 standing, 30 theatre style. It has a 72 inch Smart TV, an AV set up and wi-fi, so it is the one that works for a presentation as well as a dinner.
The Blue Room takes 14 on one long table, 23 over two, or 45 standing. Its Library area can be sectioned off for a round table of 9, which is the most useful small private space on this page.
The Leoni Room is the small one: 12 seated, 20 standing, with a plasma screen available. Plenty of natural light.
Boisdale of Canary Wharf
- Address
- Cabot Square, Canary Wharf
- Nearest
- Canary Wharf
- Booking
- Private dining enquiries by email to reservations@boisdale.co.uk. Restaurant 020 7715 5818
- Price
- Seated parties of 12 to 40, standing receptions up to 60
- Standing
- Four private dining rooms, with ticketed live music in the main restaurant
How to get in
Enquiries go through a form rather than the phone for private dining, so build in a day. The Jack Vettriano Room is the one to ask for by name: it looks over the City skyline and Cabot Square, and the paintings on its walls are the artist it is named after.
The only room on this page where live music is part of the arrangement rather than something you have to organise. Scottish in inclination: beef, game, shellfish, and a serious whisky list.
Rules
- Address
- 35 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7LB
- Nearest
- Covent Garden or Charing Cross
- Price
- The Graham Greene Room seats 18 for dinner and takes 25 standing. The John Betjeman Room seats 8
- Standing
- Two private rooms on the same floor, the John Betjeman and the Graham Greene. Established 1798
How to get in
The oldest restaurant in London, and the private rooms are named after two of its regulars rather than after sponsors: the Graham Greene has letters from Greene to his sister on its walls. At eight seats the Betjeman is the smallest private room on this page. Their own dress code asks for smart dress, with no jacket or tie required but no shorts or sportswear, and under tens are not admitted to the restaurant after 7pm.
Bluebird Chelsea
- Address
- 350 King's Road, SW3 5UU
- Nearest
- South Kensington, 14 minutes on foot
- Booking
- 020 7559 1000
- Price
- Five private spaces, for 12 to 500 guests
- Standing
- An Art Deco former motor garage on the King's Road, with private rooms, a courtyard and a members' club in one building
How to get in
The widest range on this page by a distance. Twelve to five hundred means it is one of very few London venues that can take a boardroom lunch and a wedding, so say which you are doing immediately or you will be quoted for the wrong thing. The rooms in between are the useful part: the Bluebird Room and the Mezzanine seat 30 each, the Gallery 80, the Gallery and Beaufort together 100, and the Campbell Room 120 seated or 220 standing.
Mr Fogg's Residence
- Address
- 15 Bruton Lane, Mayfair, W1J 6JD
- Nearest
- Green Park or Bond Street
- Booking
- 020 7036 0608
- Price
- Private hire for up to 150 guests
How to get in
A drawing room hung with artefacts, hired whole rather than as a partitioned room. This is a party venue rather than a dinner venue: if the evening needs a long table and quiet, it is the wrong building.
What private dining London wide actually costs
The room hire is rarely the number that matters. Most London private rooms are let against a minimum spend on food and drink rather than a flat fee, and the minimum is set by the day and the time. A Tuesday lunch and a Friday dinner in the same room are different propositions entirely.
Ask for the minimum spend before the room hire. If you ask in that order you will get a real answer. Ask about room hire first and you will be told it is free, which is true and beside the point.
Ask what is excluded. Service charge is usually applied to the whole bill including the minimum spend, so a room quoted at a round number lands roughly 12.5 per cent higher. Our tipping guide covers where that charge is 15 rather than 12.5.
Practical notes
Members’ club rooms are frequently open to everyone. Quo Vadis states it plainly. If a venue you want has a club attached, ask rather than assuming the door is shut.
Ask for the room by name. Every venue here has rooms of very different character and a booking made against the restaurant’s name is not a booking in the room you read about. That is the same rule as the conservatory at Clos Maggiore and the Lecture Room at Sketch.
Check the AV before you promise a presentation. Two of the Quo Vadis rooms have screens and one does not, and this is the detail that gets discovered on the morning.
Every capacity and price here was taken from the venue’s own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Private dining terms change more often than menus. Confirm before booking.
Where to go next
The best restaurants in London covers the rooms themselves, and the set menus cover where a large group eats well for less.
By neighbourhood, Soho holds Quo Vadis, Covent Garden holds Rules, Chelsea holds Bluebird and Canary Wharf holds Boisdale.
Questions we get asked
How many people fit in a London private dining room?
It depends entirely on the arrangement, which is why a single capacity figure is misleading. The largest room at Quo Vadis seats 24 on one oval table, 32 across four rectangular tables, 45 standing and 30 theatre style. Decide your format first, then ask for the capacity in that format.
How much does a private dining room cost in London?
Usually nothing for the room, and a great deal for the minimum spend. Most London private rooms are let against a minimum food and drink spend set by the day and the time rather than a flat hire fee. Ask for the minimum spend first: ask about room hire first and you will be told it is free, which is true and beside the point.
Can non members book a private room at a members' club?
Often, yes. Quo Vadis in Soho states plainly that its event spaces are available to both members and non members, despite being a private members' club as well as a restaurant. If a venue you want has a club attached, ask rather than assuming.
What is the biggest private dining venue in London?
Of the rooms on this page, Bluebird on the King's Road takes events from 12 to 500 guests across five private spaces, which is an unusually wide range for one building: 500 standing for a reception, 200 seated for a wedding, and a 120 seat Campbell Room in between. Mr Fogg's Residence in Mayfair hires whole for up to 150, and Boisdale of Canary Wharf seats up to 40 or takes 60 standing.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 58 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
