Private parties, team drinks, client evenings and Christmas parties for 12 to 200 guests can be held at Mr Fogg's Society of Exploration, a basement cocktail bar at 1a Bedford Street in Covent Garden, London. The whole bar can be hired for 20 to 200 people, and two smaller areas, the Train Carriage and the Explorer's Den, take groups of 12 to 40.
Seminars and company events
The bar is not a meeting venue: it sells drinks receptions, parties and entertainment rather than seminars. For companies it works for after-work drinks, launch parties, client hospitality and end-of-year celebrations, and the Christmas season has its own hire offer. The Murder on the Fogg's Express format, a 90-minute tabletop murder mystery with a welcome cocktail and nibbles, runs daily in timed slots and gives a team activity with a fixed structure. Larger groups and special requests are handled directly by the venue team by phone or email.
Rooms and capacities
The full venue takes 20 to 200 guests. The Explorer's Den, a smaller area of the bar, takes 20 to 40 guests. The Train Carriage, styled as a Victorian railway carriage, takes 12 to 25 guests and is used for the murder mystery and for private drinks. The site does not split these figures into seated and standing numbers, so the layout should be checked when enquiring.
Catering
Drinks are the focus. The cocktail list is built around nine regions of the Earth, with smoking cocktails and unusual serving vessels. The centerpiece of the wood-paneled bar is a mechanical Negroni machine that the venue presents as the first of its kind. Seasonal drinks are added for Christmas and New Year's Eve. The site does not publish a food menu for private hire, beyond the nibbles served with the murder mystery, so food should be agreed with the team.
History and setting
The bar is one of ten Mr Fogg's venues in London, each themed on Phileas Fogg, the traveler of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days. This one is styled as the private club of the fictional explorer, founded by Phileas J. Fogg, Esq. It is a dimly lit underground room with bookcases of antiques, weathered maps and portraits of past explorers on the walls. The venue points out that nearby Charing Cross is where Fogg set off on his voyage. Its sister venues in Covent Garden are the Tavern, the Gin Parlour and the Market Tavern.
Getting there
Charing Cross, served by the Underground and by mainline trains, is the nearest station, a short walk away. The bar opens every day: from 4 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 3 pm Wednesday to Friday, from noon on Saturdays and from 2 pm on Sundays. It stays open until 2 am from Wednesday to Saturday and until midnight on the other days, which leaves room for late private parties.
