The Town Hall Hotel

There are many reasons why we’re giving The Town Hall Hotel as a wedding venue two stars. The purpose of this review is to inform others and also to provide feedback should the events team want to assess certain issues and implement any changes.

- We stayed at the hotel the night before our wedding, room 101, the supposedly “bridal suite” where the only place to hang my wedding dress was off the window ledge. Quite a precarious spot where the hanger could have slipped off at any point. How does a five-star hotel doesn’t have merely a nail high enough on a wall where brides can hang their dresses so the train is not bunched up on the floor. My train wasn't even that long. Front of house staff suggested I hang it in a room just off the front desk (?).

- We spent months going back and forth with the events coordinators to finalise the last details and make sure everything was set up the way we requested. The chairs in the Council Chamber were not set up like agreed. There were family members sitting on the main floor (pit) when there should have only been two chairs for us to sit down during the reading portion of the ceremony, we had to stand instead. The chairs are not nailed to the floor. Why couldn’t they be set up as requested?

- The main table wasn’t set up as we requested, there was supposed to be a gap in front of my partner and me at the table, instead, there were two people sitting in front of us. The floral arrangement prevented us from being able to talk to them properly. At no point was it communicated that the seats would be changed without our approval which meant the seating plan we printed for our guests to find their seats wasn’t 100% accurate.

- My partner had to deal with the music not playing during the reception meal instead of enjoying himself because they didn’t have the correct plug. The venue should provide a device that is already plugged in for couples to put their music in. My partner’s best man ended up leaving his phone for the music to play because it would only connect to an iPhone (not an iPad or Android).

- Staff doing the service were not dressed appropriately for a wedding. There were members of staff wearing plain white t-shirts with jeans, others with mismatched black and grey t-shirts doing the meal service. Not the unifying look you expect to see at a wedding.

- One of our vendors had requested assistance from the venue to be able to set up prior to the day but they were not assisted the way the venue confirmed to us they would. This was the only vendor we had booked that hadn’t worked with the hotel before.

- Maybe the reason why so many things went wrong was the fact that the wedding coordinator we had been speaking to since our initial booking for May 2020 left 3 weeks before our wedding - passing the baton to someone else. Was there a lack of debrief/communication between them? It was clear once she knew she was leaving, that she had no interest in helping us continue to plan our day.

- The cake and takeaway boxes for guests were put out later than expected (after 9 pm) and together with the toasties making it a weird combination. The cake was cut at 7:30 pm.

- We asked for a menu of the drinks the bar would be serving the evening of the wedding but found that some of the drinks in the menu provided to us weeks prior were not available to order. There was no menu on the night either which meant guests didn’t know what was available and what they could or couldn’t order. A bar with no menu?

- We did the menu tasting in Feb’20 and chose it right before having to postpone our wedding a year and a half. The food we tasted in 2020 was unreal, it was elegant, well presented and the flavours were exquisite. In our second tasting Aug’21 the quality just wasn’t there anymore. They had changed chefs. We requested for the same menu we chose in 2020 to be served and even provided images of how it was presented. Once the chef agreed to do the same menu we requested to go for another tasting to do a final check but we were denied it. All in all the meal we were served at the wedding was good apart from the main dish which was incredibly disappointing, didn't have enough sauce and was served ice cold. The main also didn’t match the original dish 100% like the hotel confirmed to us it would.

- I was given a bottle of prosecco by the venue to share with my bridesmaids the morning of the wedding at 10:30 am after we had opened our bottle of champagne. Both my partner and I agreed the bottle should have been in the room with a note when we checked in the night before. There was no acknowledgment from anyone in the venue when we checked in that we were celebrating our wedding the next day.

- After the confetti and group photos were done, nobody from the venue was present to direct guests back inside to the canape reception. Collectively everyone just wandered back inside.

- The morning of the wedding, we requested three times for ice to be brought to the room I was getting ready in, in the end, my brother had to go with the ice bucket to the kitchen to get it filled.

PROS

- We received good service overall on the day, throughout the meal the drinks were topped up often and staff were polite and attentive.

- Apart from the main, the rest of the food throughout the day was good. The house wines were also great.

- There is no denying that the hotel has beautiful interiors which act as a wonderful backdrop for pictures.

- Moving around the hotel for the different parts of the wedding was also a great plus. The whole day is spread in multiple rooms so it doesn’t feel like you are in the same room the whole day.

- Props to the lady that was handed off to oversee the rest of the night when the wedding coordinator left, she worked flat out to make sure the water station was refilled, the lights were dimmed down, the music was lowered down for speeches and air conditioning was on and the night went on without any extra hiccups.

Overall, all of these small things which might seem small by themselves just added extra unnecessary stress to a day that can already be a bit stressful to begin with and that is supposed to be happy and joyful.

I’m a detail-oriented person (like many couples planning their wedding are - after all, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event) and felt like the hotel didn’t match my expectation in being able to deliver on these details, some of which they confirmed they would.

Overall the events team at Town Hall Hotel does not inspire confidence that they can handle an event the magnitude of a wedding. I would not recommend couples to book their wedding at the Town Hall Hotel.

Overall, a really great experience and we felt incredibly well looked after the whole day! We had so many compliments about the service and how everything was seamless, and we couldn’t agree more. I would particularly like to thank Town Hall Hotel for everything they did to accommodate the postponement of our wedding during COVID as well as honoring the 2018 prices when we booked for our 2020 wedding (yes – we were engaged for 3 and half years!!). We were in love with this venue from the moment we saw it and I’m so glad we chose to get married here! I would 100% recommend this venue!!
However, there are a few constructive things to add. Firstly, we did feel a little lost leading up to the big day with lost of questions being dealt with via e-mail with the previous Event planner. Thankfully, when Shazia took over she agreed to have a meeting and explained it all so quickly and easily which was really appreciated! I also feel with the previous Event planner that if I didn’t ask a certain question, we might not have been given the answer so perhaps a little more upfront information would have helped i.e. how will the wedding cake would be stored, how the sound system worked in the council chamber etc. Secondly, the rooms (we stayed in 101) were incredibly hot which we were told was due to a centralised heating system that kicked in October, even though the weather was very mild. The staff were amazing in bringing us fans and did everything they could to resolve this. However, perhaps this heating system could be reviewed.

All in all we are so glad we chose Town Hall Hotel and Shazia and Martha (who took over in the evening) were the perfect planners/organizers!

We cannot recommend Town Hall Hotel enough! We got married in May 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic and the venue could not have been more accommodating to our needs. They were very flexible and helped us to change our plans in accordance to regulations, yet still keeping the day special. Nothing was too much for Tia and her team, and the day ran completely smoothly. The food was delicious, I am coeliac and the hotel adapted their menu to ensure the entire day was gluten-free. The venue itself is really stunning, with many beautiful spaces for photographs. We would recommend Town Hall Hotel to anyone thinking of a London wedding!

Our day was amazing Shazia, Martha and team were fantastic. The day went very smoothly; the venue is stunning (it’s in Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets not Hackney) and food was incredible. All our guests enjoyed the day. The planning as the day grew nearer included a tasting menu which was great; however some earlier contact to help us plan would have been helpful (we booked a year in advance). Although the wedding planning team were great a couple of things were less so. We had asked for some guests places (3) to be removed with enough notice as they were too ill to attend, but these were still laid on the day; the reservations and reception team were a less positive experience - booking rooms for guests was not always straightforward and on the day, some of the wedding party and the photographer were sent to the wrong room. We stayed in room 101, the wedding suite - very stylish but little clothes hanging space and frustratingly no mirror above the sinks which made it difficult for us as 2 grooms to shave on the day of our wedding! Finally having put together a bespoke wedding playlist for lunch, we discovered the sound system in Bethnal Hall couldn’t turn up loud enough to be heard above 85 guests (not the maximum the room can hold). Although this didn’t spoil the actual day, it did mean that all the time and thought that had gone into it was wasted.

We did have an amazing day, and it felt very special - we are glad we chose the venue and would recommend it; however we think some of those details if addressed would make it an even more special experience.

Our dream wedding venue is the Town Hall hotel firstly it’s stunning (reminding us of our fav holiday in New York) and secondly because of our links to the area in Bethnal Green. At the time of viewing we didn’t realise that the team itself would actually top both of these reasons! Unfortunately 2020 happened *sigh* so we eventually decided it didn’t make sense to go ahead. I wanted to write this review because the team at The Town Hall - especially Tia - have been nothing but amazing to us throughout this whole process. Not going ahead has felt devastating but Tia has been so supportive. Always reassuring, calm, understanding, positive, personable and giving us fantastic advice without coming across like the team had to make a sale. It always felt genuine and compassionate, like they really do have our best interests at heart. We haven’t had this experience at any other london venue, just to highlight that we are a same-sex couple and at times haven’t always felt reassured or understood but the Town Hall team always went above and beyond to welcome us into their home. I hope one day we can have our wedding at The Town Hall because the team are first class, a huge credit to the beautiful building.

We had the best day of our lives at Town Hall - a lot of that of course because it was our wedding day, but the venue played a huge part in it! An absolutely beautiful setting, everything managed really smoothly by the staff, amazing food and drink and a beautiful hotel for us and our guests to stay in too - we couldn't have wished for more. Tia and Kayleigh were amazingly helpful all throughout the process of planning the event and ensured everything went off without any issues. Very very highly recommended!!

From start to finish, Tia and her staff at the Town Hall Hotel made organising our wedding a breeze! Nothing was too small to ask which made our day go without fault. The food was incredible (our guests have told us they were well fed!) and we particularly enjoyed doing the food and wine tasting before the day itself.

The venue is just beautiful and we loved all the quirky pieces of art around it. If we could do it all over again we totally would!

We had a perfect wedding at the Town Hall Hotel. It's such a special venue, and so many of our guests commented on how unique it was. It looked really spectacular with the Christmas decorations up.

Tia and her team were fabulous all day and throughout the entire planning process. Tia was amazing from the day we booked, always happy to help with any queries. On the day itself, everything was totally seamless but chilled at the same time, and everyone said that we seemed relaxed which we were, knowing that everything was taken care of! The food and drink were also sensational, and we loved our tasting day.

Looking back on our day, we wouldn't change a thing. Thank you to Tia and the THH team for giving us such great memories.

We just wanted to say a massive THANK YOU for all you did to make our wedding so amazing. Tia, your organisational skills are off the chart. Kay, your presence on the day was so calming and it all went so smoothly.

We had the most incredible weekend and dreamiest wedding day, and we wish we could do it all over again!

Everything perfect. The venue is great, and they make wonderful use of their spaces. Food and wine were fantastic. Tia and her team worked so hard - and with a light touch - to make it the most wonderful experience. Couldn't have been better.

Following our engagement in Switzerland March 2018, and the fact Fleur is from Holland and Simon from England, we really struggled to decide where to get married.
Following dinner at the Corner Room restaurant and a sneak around the venue, we knew that the Townhall Hotel was the place we wanted to get married. The council chamber in particular impressed us, and hasn’t disappointed it is a wonderful room to get married in. Our guests commented how stunning the venue was.

We booked to get married 09 March 2019, but sadly our daughter arrived 3.5 months sooner than expected and we were forced to move our wedding to a new date in November whilst we were in hospital with our daughter. Tia and the team at the venue could not have been more accommodating during this time, and allowed us to plan our wedding for this new date despite only being able to give them a few weeks notice before the original date.

Our wedding, was everything we hoped it would be. Tia and Roberto are friendly, helpful and there to ensure your day is just how you want it to be. They were able to suggest ideas and small details that really made the day memorable - especially the ‘reveal’.

The food and wine at the tasting was excellent, and we have had many guests comment how great it was on the night.

Tia helped ensure the day moved smoothly and helped usher the guests from ceremony, to pictures, to dinner.

Together with our guests we had the most magical day, and are so happy we chose the Townhall Hotel as our wedding location.

Simon, Fleur and baby Florence

Cannot recommend this venue enough! We really wanted a space that was interesting, modern and elevated and Town Hall checked all of those boxes. We loved how our guests moved from room-to-room for each part of the day, never feeling like there was a lull. Our guests commented on the seamlessness of the entire event. We also got so many compliments on the food and wine, and even had a guest order a case of the wine for themselves.

Tia and all of the Town Hall staff were fantastic and answered our many questions in a timely manner, which was especially helpful since we live in California. The day of, Tia was incredibly helpful in getting us where we needed to be, and keeping things on schedule! ;)

Overall, we highly recommend Town Hall Hotel and Apartments for your wedding, whether you live in the UK or abroad.

Dear Tia,

Thank you and your team for all your help with our big day. We had a great time and our guests were very complimentary about the Town Hall Hotel.

Tia, you really looked after me, my family and the bridesmaids. I am very grateful for everything you did and your attention to detail.

And you all did a sterling job of managing a very difficult member of the wedding party. We certainly have a few stories to tell!

Everyone loved the champagne reception and said there was plenty to go around. Simon's mum said the mini-burgers were the best she'd ever had and had at least three.


Everyone seemed to love the food (and the wine) and no one went hungry (or thirsty.)

Town Hall was a wonderful venue for our wedding. Their team removed all the worry and stress off our plates, and the day ran perfectly. The building is stunning, with so many unique features and decor to work as a backdrop to a fun party. The food was wonderful and the preferred vendors that they suggested were perfect! All our guests had a wonderful time.

Tia who leads the team kept us informed, answered all our questions quickly, was flexible with changing arrangements and kept everything running extremely smoothly on the day. I didn't have to worry about anything the day of at all.