Westminster Boating Base

Westminster Boating Base is a young persons' charity teaching dinghy sailing, kayaking, and paddleboarding on the Thames — and every private event held here funds that programme. The venue itself extends over the river in Pimlico Gardens, a small tree-lined park tucked between Chelsea, Belgravia, and Westminster. A private pier and pontoon mean guests can arrive by boat. The building featured as a filming location in Love Actually. It is, by some distance, one of the more unusual event spaces in SW1.

Riverside Spaces at Westminster Boating Base

The Pavilion Room is the main event space: bright, open-plan, with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides providing panoramic Thames views that include Battersea Power Station. The building physically extends over the water, so the river is not a backdrop — it is beneath and around the room. Wraparound terraces continue the riverfront experience outdoors. Below, the Edgson Room is a more intimate space with its own full-length covered balcony overlooking the Thames, effects lighting and speakers for music, and direct terrace access. An atrium links both rooms.

Hired as a whole, the venue takes 300 standing or 150 for seated dinner across the Pavilion and Edgson Room. Pimlico Gardens provides outdoor overflow for drinks receptions in warm weather.

Events and Team Building at Westminster Boating Base

The venue is licensed for weddings, and the Thames-facing ceremony setting is hard to match in Central London. Summer parties, corporate receptions, product launches, and private celebrations all use the panoramic views and outdoor terraces as their centrepiece. Away days and team-building events can incorporate the Boating Base's own watersports — kayaking, paddleboarding, dinghy sailing — managed by RYA and Paddle UK accredited instructors.

Arriving by Water at Westminster Boating Base

Boat arrivals and departures via the private pier turn a Thames RIB experience or pleasure boat cruise into a genuine entrance. The venue licence runs to 00:30. No in-house catering, but fully equipped catering facilities are on-site with an approved list of external caterers. Pimlico and Vauxhall tubes are the nearest stations, Victoria a short walk. As a charity venue, every hire fee directly funds youth watersports programmes.