How many of you? London's best private rooms, by head count

Count heads first, because the number decides the room long before the menu does. London's dining rooms for hire run from a single oval table for eight at Scott's on Mount Street to a room for forty above Piccadilly with Green Park outside the windows, and the best book up months out. Gymkhana opens its vaults three months ahead, a month before its main dining room.

Up to eight: Scott's and Hide's small rooms

The Platinum Arowana Room at Scott's seats up to eight round one oval table. The floor is lit glass and green agate, the lights are Lalique, and there are works by Renoir, Miró, Chagall and Braque on the walls. You eat from the Scott's à la carte, which means seasonal fish and shellfish, with the sommelier on hand. For a client dinner where the room does half the talking, nothing in Mayfair is a surer bet, though you should budget for the service charge on top.

Hide, on Piccadilly, has a run of small rooms downstairs: The Broken Room for four, The Nest for six, and The Reading Room and The Shadow Room for eight each. It holds a Michelin star in this year's guide and gets its wine from Hedonism Wines, so even a small table gets a very long list.

Ten to 18: the business dinner

The upstairs room at The Wolseley on Piccadilly seats up to 15 round a central oval table, reached by its own staircase, with arched windows on all four sides. It's the most flexible room here, serving breakfast from 7am on weekdays, lunch from noon and dinner from 7pm, and a breakfast meeting is far easier to land than a dinner anywhere nearby. There's a food and drink minimum rather than a room fee.

Bob Bob Ricard in Soho is the one when the evening should feel like an occasion. Its room, modelled on a royal dining carriage, takes up to 18, with set menus from £95 a head or the full à la carte. No ties are needed, but no under-15s are allowed either, which matters for a family birthday.

Gymkhana, on Albemarle Street, holds two Michelin stars for its Indian cooking and has private dining vaults. Upstairs, its cocktail lounge 42 seats around 16 and stays open until 2am Thursday to Saturday, and you can hire it alongside the restaurant for drinks beforehand or a late finish.

Twenty to 45: birthdays, launches, team dinners

Hide has the widest spread again. Hide & Seek, on the top floor, takes 24 and has its own entrance and lift, so guests never walk through the restaurant. The Piccadilly View takes 40, runs along the front of the building and gets daylight all day, which makes it better for lunch than most rooms of its kind in town.

Scott's Private Room seats 40 at four round tables or 24 at one long one, with gilded ceilings, underwater scenes on the panels and tropical fish under a marble-topped bar. It adds canapés, fruits de mer, caviar and celebration cakes to the à la carte.

The Salon at Spring, in Somerset House on the Strand, takes up to 36 among olive trees and climbing plants under a high ceiling, and pairs well with an exhibition at Somerset House. Claridge's has six spaces for hire, of which two are worth knowing: L'Epicerie, a chef's table for up to 14 inside the open kitchen, and The Painter's Room, which is Art Deco and takes up to 45.

For something outdoors most of the year, the Coral Garden at Dalloway Terrace, part of The Bloomsbury hotel on Great Russell Street, takes about 20 under a canopy of greenery. It's fully heated in winter, so it isn't only a summer booking. The British Museum is two minutes away, and dinner runs 5pm to 10pm daily.

Contracts for these rooms vary more than the menus do, so get these answered in writing before you confirm:

• The minimum spend, and whether service charge counts towards it
• Set menu or à la carte, and the deadline for choosing dishes
• When final numbers are due and what happens if three people drop out
• The deposit and cancellation terms
• Age limits and dress code, especially for family events
• What time the room must be cleared

Food hygiene ratings for the places in this guide

Official fact Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, checked 23 September 2026. 5 is the top rating.

Name	Registered address	Rating	Inspected
Hide	85-87 Piccadilly, W1J 7NB	4	Aug 2026
The Wolseley	157-160 Piccadilly, W1J 9EA	5	May 2025
Bob Bob Ricard	1 Upper James Street, W1F 9DE	5	Oct 2025
Gymkhana	42 Albemarle Street, W1S 4JH	5	Aug 2025

Ratings cover hygiene only, not food quality. Matched by name and address; a venue not shown was not found or could not be matched with confidence.