The Trafalgar Tavern

We had our wedding at Trafalgar Tavern and it was a beautiful setting. We hired the entire first floor where we held our reception. The staff were fabulous. The food was delicious and our budget really stretched far with the drinks. It was beautiful seeing the sunset over the river and my guests loved the venue, they were amazed by the decor and the said the range of spirits behind the bar was astonishing - and even if the staff didn’t have a particular spirit behind them they would radio somebody in a different bar to bring it over !

We had our wedding reception here in the nelson room and we cannot thank enough the staff on the day, Lorraine who help us plan the whole thing and last but not least, especially Dami the event coordinator who executed the plan on the day.

Lorraine made everything simple and was quick to respond to all our queries. Dami on the day was sensational, making sure everything ran smoothly, i had no idea of some of the minor organisational issues my best man had to deal with and he (my best man) sang the praises of Dami for being quick, efficient and supportive of anything the bridal party wanted to achieve.

The food was spectacular, great portion sizes and the quality was second to none. Generally i feel wedding food often sees a drop in quality due to the mass catering but all our guests mentioned how incredible the food was. You get to choose 3 starter mains and deserts, giving our guests plenty of choice. we even had fillet steak which was cooked to perfection across the board.

We also had our own band (Blue Lion Band - incredible band) who played 3 sets of 45 minutes and were equally fantastic, they knew the venue and we were originally worried about the noise limit of 90 decibels but this had no impact what soever on the event.

Honestly the day could not have gone any better and the team at the Trafalgar tavern have to take a lot of credit for that. Even clearing up the following day, our stuff had been neatly packed away into a box ready for our collection.

The value on offer here is amazing. The room is stunning, no decoration required.

We arranged a viewing of the Trafalgar Tavern with the events manager (initials LH), agreeing on a specific date and time. After travelling to the venue and arriving as planned, we were told that the person we were supposed to meet was not there, no one was available in the office, and that a viewing couldn’t take place anyway due to a wedding currently in progress.

What made matters worse was that the staff member we spoke to mentioned that this apparently happens quite often—that the events team sends people for viewings without ensuring anyone is actually on site.

When we contacted LH afterwards, the response was rude and dismissive, with no apology offered. Considering we had taken the time to travel and paid to get there, this level of service was very disappointing.

Based on this experience, I would think carefully before booking this venue.

Trafalgar is like a dream. It's so beautiful that you get lost in all its details. Our guests were so impressed by it, and the food was delicious. The events team were amazing. Huge thanks to Dami, the coordinator on the day.
Make sure you get a license to take photos on the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College.

Wedding was perfect so many compliments on the venue. Staff were.brilliant and organised, food was really good 👍

Having looked at a few venues in the area to host our wedding, the Trafalgar was an immediate stand-out and I'm glad we went with it. It was the perfect space to host our celebration, with so much flexibility from how we could split and organise the rooms, the inevitable changes to the menus (with everyone saying how much they loved the food), and even allowing us to drop off our bits and pieces the night before and get ready at the venue on the day. Lorraine, Yvonne and team were amazing throughout, meeting us at the venue to help plan, and we'll definitely be back for many years to come.

Whilst the venue itself was so unique and the setting was everything we wanted, the service we received from Trafalgar left us disappointed on our wedding day.

Most issues stemmed from and were attributable to the Events Manager (initials YL). She was disinterested in us as clients throughout the planning process and on the wedding day itself. Her lack of preparedness and poor management of the day caused a multitude of errors – most of which were basic. We provided a detailed breakdown of our table plan, with guest names and dietary requirements weeks before the wedding. No issues or concerns were raised to us and so we thought we could trust the Events Manager to handle the food service without issue.
The Events Manager confirmed she was at the pass during the meal service so the following issues all took place under her watch:
- Meat dishes were served to the table of vegans, vegetarians and Jains. A guest had to ask for it to be taken away. This caused particular offence to guests on the table, and I personally felt very embarrassed and offended. It’s culturally unacceptable in my family and therefore, reflected extremely badly on us as a couple. We happened to see this instance happen ourselves and I had to stop eating, get up and intervene myself to ask the wait staff to please check the table plan provided.
- Event staff on the day were not properly briefed or prepared. This meant food was served late, in a very disjointed manner with very long gaps in between – the sides were served first and then nothing else for 10 minutes which meant they went cold. The pork came out so late it went to waste.
- Waiters didn’t know what they were serving and couldn’t answer basic questions from guests e.g. is this dish vegetarian. One waiter was serving green beans and telling the guests it was spinach…
- One table was only provided 1 of the 4 desserts – when guests asked why, the waiter said he was told by the bride not to give them any desserts apart from fruit. This never happened – I couldn’t believe it when a guest told me this.
- Serving spoons were not provided when dishes were being served so guests had to use their dessert spoons which meant they didn’t have cutlery when dessert was served. There was not enough cutlery on hand for all the guests.
- The mains were not cleared away before dessert was served so it was very messy and chaotic on the tables.
- We paid for tea and coffee for 100 guests and they staff put out 25 cups…
To add insult to injury, we negotiated a partial refund from the Events Manager due to the really poor service we received. It took an entire month for the money to actually reach our account – we were told it had been processed and would take X days, I would have to chase because we still hadn’t received it. In fact, I had to chase 3 times and in the end, the Events Manager ghosted us. The only reason I got the refund after a month was because I called the venue and spoke to someone helpful who actioned the refund and sent proof of payment within 24 hours. It was that simple but the Events Manager could not be any less concerned with correcting her wrongs.
I asked for the contact email address of the manager at the venue so I can share my feedback and was ignored so I’ve resorted to posting my feedback on a public form so other brides and grooms are aware of the venue’s shortcomings.
My advice would be if you are going to choose this venue for a very important day in your life – do not leave it solely in the hands of the Events Manager/staff at venue. Our day would have been much worse if we hadn’t hired an independent on-the-day wedding coordinator. She really saved the day in many instances but unfortunately when it came to the food service which was entirely in the hands of the Event Manager, we as the bride and groom and our guests were poorly serviced.

We spent a considerable amount of money with the venue and would have expected a far better service than we received.

We had an incredible day. Credit where it is due - the venue was beautiful, the food was very good and the waiting staff were friendly.

Unfortunately for us though, most of what we had agreed to happen on the day didn't end up happening even though it was on the official run sheet. This is particularly annoying because if the venue had stated up front we'd need to sort these things then we could have.

Examples include:

Another wedding on the same day. This was fine but we were not told they'd use the same stairway. Led to total confusion and guests in the wrong place.

Venue not responding to the wife-to-be so on arrival there was more confusion where she should go. Her mum had to run up in the end and ask.

Missing gift card table even though Venue said they'd provide

Tables not set up when they said they'd be set up. This did happen in the end though and looked great.
Room configuration not set up as agreed leading to band sound check causing issues

Free bar not operating as agreed. Many of our guests ended up paying for drinks that should have been on account.

All of these items had been organised with the venue in advance but just didn't happen on the day.

The Trafalgar Tavern looked after us from beginning to end. A beautiful setting by the Thames, the food was amazing too! I highly recommend booking the Trafalgar Tavern for your wedding breakfast/reception. Worth every penny!

We could have not picked a better location for our wedding. Not only because of the stunning location on the river thames and the breathtaking interiors but because of the professionalism and kindness of all the staff members. Ewelina and Yvonne patiently answered all our questions email after email. THANK YOU. On the wedding day, Yvonne and her team did an amazing job and i cannot thank them enough.
Our wedding was a success because of all of you. Thank you.
We will always have fond memories of the Trafalgar and it will always have a special place in our hearts.

Beautiful venue, amazing views, lovely staff, Kate our link was so helpful!

We had our wedding at Trafalgar Tavern and absolutely loved the venue. It is an incredibly beautiful venue with a wide variety of rooms. Our only issue was that there was a lot of change with the events team at Trafalgar Tavern, and when there was a change in personnel, our agreements with the venue were not properly communicated internally, leading to extensive back and forth which was not ideal.

However, on the day and in the run-up shortly before the wedding the team was fantastic. For example, service was running slightly late on the day, however the team was very flexible and so we were able to move around timings of the cake cutting and coffee service to make sure that our wedding ran smoothly. We would also much rather service ran slightly late than compromise the quality of the food and the chefs implemented my wife and I’s notes from our wedding tasting perfectly. All our guests really enjoyed the food and had a fantastic time!

We thought of a pub wedding on a budget, we got a classy, elegant wedding venue by the river with gorgeous views of the wharf, great staff, amazing wedding suite and excellent service. We could not have found a better venue to make our day our happiest day. Helaina was the best wedding planner and was on the ball throughout. Ours was a very last minute wedding plan and everything had to be put together in 2 weeks. Helaina went out of her way to make sure it turned out to be the best day of our lives. It came across as if we had spent months planning our wedding! It was perfect and the guests were thrilled to be there. Everyone was wowed by the food, the location, service, venue. If you want a london wedding for a small group on a budget but still want an elegant wedding, this is the place for you. The summer sunshine added to the gorgeous views. Ideal location by the river, with outside benches to hangout, smoke and have some cocktails, a nice little balcony in the wedding suite to relax in between courses and take a break from all the dancing!

Trafalgar Tavern are an amazing wedding venue. We had the most amazing day and the team helped us to achieve our dream day. Trafalgar Tavern gives the most attentive, professional but friendly service from working out logistics at the beginning to trouble shooting issues which occurred on the day. After looking around other wedding venues it was not only the beauty of the venue that stood out but how all the staff made us feel welcomed and have a genuine desire to work with us to make all our wedding plans come to fruition even to point of sourcing us a last minute wedding cake 🤣 Trafalgar Tavern go above and beyond and that is priceless! We would recommend this venue to anyone look to get married.

The venue is great, the staff were very thoughtful, everything came to get nicely. Overall fantastic experience and I would highly recommend others to go too.