Company parties, presentations, team days and weddings for up to 175 guests take place across three floors of a timber-framed inn on the water at St Katharine Docks. The Dickens Inn stands on Marble Quay in east London, a short walk from the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.
Seminars and company events
The events team handles corporate presentations, team days, networking evenings, business presentations and Christmas parties. Three function spaces can be booked, from a ground-floor bar for 80 standing to a beamed suite seating 150, so the same building suits a small drinks reception or a full company dinner. A corporate brochure can be downloaded from the website. Screens are installed throughout the Copperfield Bar; other audiovisual needs are agreed with the team. Christmas lunches and dinners are sold as private events each year.
Weddings and receptions
The inn is licensed for wedding ceremonies, so couples can hold the ceremony, the meal and the evening party in one place. Wedding guests have a private bar, a dining room and space for a dance floor, and music can run until midnight. Formats range from a traditional wedding breakfast to a larger feast or an evening reception only. A dedicated weddings and events team plans the day, and a wedding brochure is available.
Rooms and capacities
The Dickens Suite is the largest room: up to 175 standing or 150 seated, with high ceilings, exposed wooden beams and large windows facing the docks and Tower Bridge. The Pickwick Room takes 130 standing or 90 seated and has its own balcony with the same views. The Copperfield Bar, on the ground floor, holds 80 standing, with its own private bar, lounge seating and a private entrance to the patio. The building also houses the Poplars restaurant on the top floor and the Tavern Bar downstairs, along with an outdoor terrace and flower-hung balconies.
Catering
Catering is in-house. The kitchen and bar team builds food and drink packages around the event: a seated meal, a buffet reception, or canapés with drinks. Menus are set with the events team.
History and setting
The building is thought to date from the early 1700s and first served as a warehouse by the Thames; it may have been used for tea or for brewing. To make way for new housing it was moved 70 meters east, a load of 120 tons. Its original timbers, boards and ironwork were reassembled as a three-story balconied inn in 18th-century style. The Dickens Inn opened in May 1976, inaugurated by Cedric Charles Dickens, a descendant of the novelist, who wrote often about the docks and taverns of the Thames.
Getting there
The address is Marble Quay, St Katharine's Way, London E1W 1UH. Tower Hill and Wapping stations are about five minutes away on foot, and Tower Gateway on the DLR is close by. London City Airport is the nearest airport, and Heathrow is reachable by the Elizabeth line from Whitechapel or Liverpool Street.
