Nothing sets an event apart like a venue that’s outside the norm. Hotel board rooms, barns, and purpose-built conference centres have their plus points, but when planning your wedding or a corporate event, why not think outside of the usual four walls? Select a venue that’s full of charm, charisma, and character. Ensure your guests will remember their experience for years to come. Underground vaults, crypts, and gaols. Planes, trains, and automobiles. Taverns, caverns, ‘coasters, piers, and windmills. Even disused swimming pools, decommissioned bunkers, and power stations. The UK has a smorgasbord of unusual event venues waiting to host your next event.
At TLC we adore an event space that reaches beyond the obvious! So, we’ve punctuated our guide to 10 of the UK’s quirkiest event venues with real-life case studies of our corporate events, weddings, and parties.
VICTORIA BATHS, MANCHESTER
Firstly. dive into an historic, municipal swimming pool that’s packed with original period features. Vaulted ceilings. Stylish Victorian green tiles. Intricate stained-glass windows. You could hardly imagine a more extraordinary heritage setting for your next event.
Delightful Art Nouveau décor aside, the interior of Victoria Baths is a highly flexible event space. Multiple layouts and uses are possible. The space is regularly hired by corporate and private clients and has been used for all types of events. DJ sets, weddings, conferences, festivals. Even the backdrop for a TV drama or too. Our CEO Liz Taylor loves this space so much that she has become a Victoria Baths Trading Company Director and Special Advisor to the Trust.
THE CRYPT HALL, LIVERPOOL METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL, LIVERPOOL
An unusual event venue with a spooky edge! Take a journey into the underbelly of Liverpool’s iconic Metropolitan Cathedral and create your own tale from the crypt. In the Crypt Hall, remarkable architecture, brick buttresses, vaulted ceilings, and a dramatic entrance staircase await. A true gem, hidden deep underground.
The hall itself can seat up to 300 guests for dinner. However, it also links up with further interconnecting rooms that can accommodate larger events. The Concert Hall is ideal for conferences and recitals. The nearby Treasury is home to ancient artifacts, vestments, and sacred vessels that are on display for your guests to peruse.
No matter the size of your event it will be catered for in this unique underground venue.
https://liverpoolmetrocathedral.org.uk/venue-hire/the-crypt-hall/
EAST LANCASHIRE RAILWAY, BURY
And some unusual event venues are on the move. Take your party on the move. Rail enthusiasts will delight in hopping aboard their own private steam train which can be hired exclusively for functions.
Take your guests on a journey throughout time. Escape to an era when fine dining on a train was the pinnacle of sophistication. Three grand Pullman-style carriages can be boarded at the station, complete with professional waiters and staff to cater to your needs. Up to 138 guests can travel but if your event is large enough you can even hire the entire train.
We did it for a surprising and luxurious milestone birthday party for one of our celebrity clients. The Observation Saloon is sumptuously fitted with wooden marquetry and traditional fittings, making it an ideal space for a travelling gathering.
SS GREAT BRITAIN, BRISTOL
https://www.amazingspaceweddings.co.uk/search/brunels-ss-great-britain
Treat guests to a unique slice of maritime history for your next event. Brunel’s SS Great Britain, a beautifully restored Victorian ship dubbed the ‘World’s First Great Ocean Liner’ is docked in at Bristol’s harbourside.
Dating back to 1843, she offers your guests a unique vantage point to the region’s most spectacular views.
Choose a sunny spot above or atmospheric space below. Eleven separate, versatile event spaces encompass a weather deck, first-class dining saloon, theatres, halls, and banqueting suites. The maximum capacity for the largest space is 250 guests. While weddings and larger events can take exclusive use of the entire ship and her crew. An added bonus? All guests are free to enjoy the Dockyard Museum and Dry Dock at leisure.
THE VAULTS AND 26 LEAKE STREET, LONDON
For a corporate dinner, we negotiated the use of a disused railway arch in Manchester. An urban backdrop that provided a blank space for us to transform into a nightclub. The most unusual event venues can sometime be created from nothing.
Along a similar vein, are two of the quirkiest of venues in London. The Vaults, entered through an inconspicuous graffiti-clad archway leads to an underworld of interconnected tunnels and disused railway arches. Beneath Waterloo Station, 30,000 Square feet of Victorian brickwork and abandoned seventies office space are at your disposal.
Atmospheric. Edgy. Clandestine. The definition of unique. This venue is home to immersive theatre and art installations but can also be hired for private events.
Ten connected event spaces including the ‘long wet one,’ ‘the foodie one’, ‘the mezzy one’ and ‘the bricky one’ offer versatility and originality with a side helping of humour.
To the right of The Vaults is another graffiti-shrouded venue – 26 Leake Street. The space provided an atmospheric setting for a TLC birthday party themed around Stranger Things. Dark and stylishly avant-garde – it was the ideal backdrop for our journey to the upside down.
The space houses uniquely styled events that celebrate artistic expression. With a maximum capacity of 1200 plus a separate chillout/green room it makes the perfect space for larger parties, celebrations, live performances, and festivals.
https://26leakestreet.com/about-leake-street/
CHESTER ZOO, CHESTER
We had to include this place in our collection of the more unusual event venues. We’re currently in the final planning stages of a charity fundraiser with a tropical rainforest theme. Could there be a better venue than Chester Zoo to host this?
Not only does the animal population of the zoo get to join the party, but the buildings are grade II listed and packed with character. Plus, a percentage of the profits will go to conservation at the organisation’s conservation efforts.
In 2023, a completely new event space was added to the venue’s portfolio increasing the maximum capacity for events to 380. Housed in the original stable, the large open-plan space offers a timeless mix of old and new.
Discovering this place has been a fantastic revelation!
https://www.chesterzoo.org/plan-your-visit/venue-hire/
CARNGLAZE CAVERNS, CORNWALL
A meeting space with instant wow. Carnglaze Caverns is situated on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor. A former slate mine it takes your event deep underground for a unique perspective, hosting up to four hundred guests.
Two event spaces incorporate The Rum Store, which is often used for concerts and corporate events due to its outstanding acoustics. Atmospheric and inspirational, the smaller space has a breath-taking crystal-clear underground lake and is popular for weddings thanks to the romantic ambiance.
ALTON TOWERS, STAFFORDSHIRE
https://www.altontowers.com/conferences-and-events/
Organise your next event with thrills guaranteed, with a private visit to one of the UK’s most popular theme parks. Your guests will gain access to the park when nobody else is around, for a unique and exclusive experience.
Dare they face the unrelenting twists and turns of The Smiler, a sheer drop into nothingness on Oblivion? Or will they become a gift to the Wicker Man?
Events for up to 600 people can be catered for in the conferencing and event space. For a Caribbean twist and some added adrenaline – you can hire the Alton Towers Water Park for private use with up to 1000 guests.
And, you can hear Liz’s response when Stormzy hired the entire Alton Towers park for a birthday bash!
https://youtu.be/_3pU2cAyedk?si=ofTAOsELiD012GtC
CRUMLIN ROAD GAOL, BELFAST
https://www.crumlinroadgaol.com/
Sent your guests to the clink! This grade-A-listed nineteenth-century building is packed with stunning architectural features and a checkered history to boot. Once housing Belfast’s most notorious criminals, it now boasts a range of meeting spaces and state-of-the-art AV technology – the perfect blend of old and new.
Choose from the former prison chapel for larger gala events and conferences, to the atmospheric basement gallery, or the intimate setting of the Governor’s office.
BRIGHTON PIER, BRIGHTON
Enjoy all the fun of the fair with Brighton Pier a venue for your conference, wedding, or corporate event. The glass-fronted Palm Court restaurant can host up to four hundred guests. A bright, airy spacious building with sea views for miles and sunset panoramas to wow. While Horatio’s is a stylish waterfront bar with seating both outdoors and in, with the fairground as backdrop or as an extended playground for your guests.
Can’t decide? Then hire the whole thing exclusively – it’s large enough to accommodate 3000 guests.
https://www.visitbrighton.com/conferences/brighton-palace-pier-p537051
SET THE STAGE – MORE ON VENUES FROM TLC
Found your ideal space in our choice of unusual event venues, but not sure of the next steps? Read TLC’s guide tips for booking your venue here: https://www.tlc-ltd.co.uk/10-tips-booking-venue/
Looking for a space to host a spooky Halloween party? Try one of the UK’s spookiest venues:
https://www.tlc-ltd.co.uk/five-of-the-spookiest-venues-uk-and-ireland/
EMBRACE THE MADNESS
If you love your venues quirky then it’s likely you’ll love some of these weird and wonderful events and festivals: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/coolest-culture-festivals-europe-b2585155.html