What we offer at a glance
- The museum is an attractive heritage waterside building on two floors, with exposed brick walls, colourful exhibits, and a fine timber roof
- Licenced for weddings and civil partnerships (up to 140 people)
- Available 1630 to 2300
- Capacity 120 guests seated for a meal, or 200 standing
- Free choice of any caterer you like
- No corkage charges or commission on catering
- Street parking available at weekends, public transport excellent round the clock
- Fully accessible to disabled guests
- We offer a range of optional non-food services such as furniture, glassware, and sound system hire, storage facilities, bar and logistics staff, table covers, and more
- Accredited as a green venue
- A track record of experience since 1998
Key Points - more detail
- You can choose any caterer you like, and deal direct with them. The museum has a limited facilities for preparation of food so they must be able to do at least some of the preparation of the meal in their own kitchens.
- We have our own banqueting furniture available at an extra charge. You don't have to use our furniture, you can hire different furniture so long as you book our storage facilities for delivery and collection
- Events with music and dancing start from 1630 and finish at 2300.
- Music and dancing is allowed on Fridays, Saturdays, or the evening before a public holiday, until 2300.
- Canalside outdoor wharf, with an attractive urban view, may be used until 2200
- Public transport is excellent even at night, we're on two Night Tube routes, numerous bus routes and cabs can collect you from the front door. Street parking is available after 1330 Saturdays, after 1830 Mondays to Fridays, and all day Sundays.
- Hire of the museum starts from 1630 when we close to the public. Guests can arrive from about 1645. Wedding ceremonies normally start at 1700. There is no access to the exhibition galleries before 1630, other than on Mondays. We're experts at rapid set-up.
- Our conference room can be booked for storage and preparations before and after the function, so all your deliveries can arrive the day before and your caterer can get ready during the afternoon on the wedding day.
- We always do the set-up work for wedding ceremonies. Other set-up work can be done by us or by your caterer. We can install decorations, lay tables, move furniture etc.
- Optional extras to hire include banqueting furniture, uplights, fairy lights, small sound system, disco sound system, wireless microphone, projector, screen, table ice buckets, white chair covers, wine glasses, water glasses, Champagne flutes. We can provide table covers, ice for chilling drinks, bar staff. We don't provide staff to serve or handle food.
- Oblong tables for bar, buffet and sundry use are provided free, as are coat rails and hangars
- Both floors are accessible for wheelchair users, via lifts. There is a disabled persons' toilet and many other features such as handrails for the less-mobile guest.
- Air conditioning keeps you warm in winter, cool in summer.
An Exclusive Venue on Two Floors
The ground floor is ideally suited to receiving your guests prior to the ceremony and for the drinks reception after it. There is ample circulating space and plenty to look at. Conversation between guests who have not previously met will be encouraged by our exhibits and the spectacular opening in the floor which reveals the preserved Victorian ice well below. The rear windows look out onto Battlebridge Basin with its colourful canal boats. In good weather guests will be able to take in the view and some fresh air by strolling out to the waterside. The ceremony is usually held on the first floor and this is also used for the dinner and the party and dancing. The ground floor is used for the drinks reception after the ceremony, and often for a cake-cutting ceremony after dinner whilst the tables are cleard upstairs.
This tried and tested use of the two floors for different parts of the occasion helps to encourage guests to mingle and meet new people as well as facilitiating the practical things like preparing and later clearing the dining tables.
Times and Availability
The museum is open to visitors until 1630 (except on Mondays) so weddings don't start until that time. We can be ready for guests to arrive and assemble at 1645 prior to a 1700 ceremony. After the ceremony, guests come down to the ground floor for a drinks reception whilst the first floor is turned into a dining room. After dinner it is often a good plan for guests to return to the ground floor whilst the tables are cleared and space created for dancing. Often a cake-cutting ceremony takes place against the photogenic backdrop of the canal boat Coronis at this stage, with or without the addition of coffee or more drinks.
You can book our meeting room and our kitchen from 1000 onwards, and indeed over a whole weekend, so that deliveries and preparations can be made well before guests arrive.
Dates available (for weddings that include music and dancing)
Arrive by boat
A relaxing cruise in the middle of a busy day; a charming and memorable feature of your wedding day; a delight to adults and children alike; something special that will make your wedding different from all the others that your family and friends have attended: that's a what arriving by boat has to offer. The most common starting points are Camden Town, Islington, Paddington and Regent's Park. You arrive at the museum's own wharf. Refreshments can be enjoyed on board by arrangement with the boat company. A large boat can carry up to 98 guests or alternatively you could book a smaller boat for just the happy couple and a few VIP guests to be greeted by the other guests on arrival at the museum. There is no more romantic way to arrive at your wedding. You can even have two boats from different directions, one for each of the happy couple's groups of family and friends!
