Aqua Shard hosts corporate dinners, drinks receptions, product launches and private parties on level 31 of The Shard in London. The private dining room seats 30, the two wings take 100 to 200 guests, and the whole restaurant can be hired for up to 360 people at a standing reception. It sits at 31 St Thomas Street, next to London Bridge station.
Seminars and company events
The venue is a restaurant and bar first, so it suits the evening side of a company program: a client dinner, a leadership gathering after a day of meetings, a launch, a team celebration or a premiere. The official site names corporate events, product launches, anniversaries and film premieres among the formats it hosts. A dedicated events team builds the menu and drinks around the brief, and a brochure and a 360 degree tour are available from the events page.
Rooms and capacities
The glass private room seats up to 30 guests across three round tables, or 60 standing. Glass partitions split it into three smaller rooms, which can be booked on their own for groups of 12, 10 and 8. It looks over Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and Canary Wharf.
For larger groups there are two semi-exclusive wings. The Tea Wing holds up to 50 seated or 150 standing. The Gin Wing holds up to 100 seated or 200 standing. For a drinks reception, the events page states up to 340 guests.
Exclusive hire covers the whole restaurant: up to 200 seated, or 360 at a standing reception. Aqua Shard can also be combined with its sister restaurant Hutong, on level 33, for up to 280 seated or 700 standing.
Catering
Catering is in house. Menus follow contemporary British cooking built around seasonal produce, and the events team can create bespoke menus and drinks for a reception. For groups of more than 12 guests, one set menu is chosen for the whole table, with alternatives for vegetarian and other dietary needs. Private rooms carry a minimum spend on food and beverage that depends on the date, the room and the group size, so ask for a quote early.
History and setting
The restaurant occupies level 31 of The Shard, the tallest building in the United Kingdom. Floor to ceiling windows frame the river and the City skyline, and the room changes character between a daytime lunch and an evening reception as the lights come on across London. A separate bar on the same level serves cocktails and can be part of a reception.
Getting there
The Shard stands at 31 St Thomas Street, London SE1 9RY, directly above London Bridge station, which is served by Tube, National Rail and Thameslink services. Guests arrive at street level and take the lifts to level 31.
