Chelsea Physic Garden hires its four-acre garden, its Gallery and its café for corporate receptions, gala dinners, product launches, seminars and weddings. The garden takes up to 500 guests standing or 200 seated when hired exclusively in the evening, and the Gallery holds up to 60 in theatre style. It is London's oldest botanic garden, at 66 Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea, by the Thames. Only a limited number of private events and weddings are held each year.
Seminars and company events
The Gallery is the room for workshops and seminars. It was built as a classroom, herbarium and plant laboratory and sits above the café, overlooking the garden to the south. It is a spacious, modestly decorated room with an original oak dais. The venue gives these recommended capacities: 80 standing, 60 theatre, 40 cabaret, 32 boardroom and 24 classroom. Up to 12 trestle tables and 60 upholstered chairs come with the hire, along with a widescreen projector, speakers, two wireless microphones, a laptop and Wi-Fi at no extra cost. Hire is available all year, as an evening from 5 pm to 10 pm, a full day from 10 am to 5 pm or a half day.
For larger corporate events, the garden hosts summer parties, gala dinners, exhibitions, product launches, corporate hospitality and away days.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings are limited in number each year. The garden is available on a Saturday evening or a weekday evening, with exclusive access, for up to 60 guests, or up to 200 with a marquee. It carries a ceremony licence. The café takes up to 40 guests on a weekday evening, and the Gallery takes up to 40 in the daytime, with admission to the garden. The Gallery has a ceremony licence, and both spaces have in-house catering.
Rooms and capacities
Exclusive hire of the garden in the evening takes up to 500 standing or 200 seated, with the garden and all event spaces in private use. A non-exclusive daytime hire of the Lower Lawn takes up to 300 standing or 150 seated, with visitors still admitted to the garden. The Physic Garden Café takes up to 100 standing or 60 seated in the evening. A marquee is permitted in the garden.
Catering
Events in the garden use suppliers from the garden's accredited list, and hire is dry hire. The Gallery and the café use in-house catering by Company of Cooks.
Accommodation
There is no accommodation on site.
History and setting
The garden spans four acres and includes a pond rockery, Victorian glasshouses, order beds, ginkgo trees, Mediterranean herbs, olives, palms and pomegranates, with two lawns. It is a Grade I listed site run by a horticultural and educational charity, which explains the limit on events.
Getting there
The garden is near Sloane Square, Victoria and the King's Road. The address is 66 Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HS.
