Theweddingring.ca

Hello!

Having an open bar is really important to my fiance. Does anyone know where I can find a list of the venues in London that allow you to bring in your own alcohol ?

Thanks!

All the lists that I came across were out of date. What I did was simply open the yellow pages (the old school print version!) and started calling places under "banquet halls" and "halls". Off the top of my head, the places I called that allow outside alcohol brought in are:
Polish Hall, Polish Combatants Association, Connolly Hall, Eastern Star and the German Canadian Club. I am sure there are lot's more in London if you ask. Good luck!

My sister's reception was at the Helenic (Greek) Centre and they allowed outside alcohol. That was 10 years ago mind you... but it's another one to add to the list!

If you're just looking for somewhere you can have an open bar, a lot of hotels offer this as part of their package, as well as many other venues. They just charge you on a "per head" basis and figure out what the open bar charge would be, as opposed to having a cash bar.

From my experience in London, some venues are fine with bringing your own alcohol while others frown upon it. What is your reasoning for bringing in your own alcohol rather than using in-house alcohol? Many venues will work out a very reasonable per drink rate for open bar service for you. The difficulty in bringing your own alcohol is you are then responsible for what happens while people drink and you must have your own Special Occasions Permit. Not to mention if you don't forecast your crowd's needs exactly, you are caught in a situation without adequate supply of alcohol. Once you cross the line of providing your own alcohol, it is all up to you (due to licensing). If a bar agrees to you bringing your own alcohol, they must then lock up all of their supply (as it was bought under their license). Say for example, you don't supply enough vodka and you don't realize this until 11 pm, you are left to look for alternatives within your supply as the bar cannot legally supply their alcohol when you have purchased a Special Occasions Permit. I wouldn't suggest picking a venue solely on being able to provide your own alcohol. I would find a few venues you like and then, approach the subject of open bar versus supplying your own alcohol. In all the years I have been planning Weddings, I always try to shy my Clients away from self supplied alcohol as it never seems to work flawlessly. At least with bar supplied alcohol, you can rely upon adequate inventory and they maintain all legal responsibility under their license.

That clarifies a lot for me as well; I don't want to deal with getting my own permit and being responsible for alcohol, however, how much more expensive is it generally to have the venue/hotel provide an open bar?? Is it worth the money to simply not have the extra responsibility/worry over your head??

We will have hosted keg beer and two signature drinks that will be our own recipe. They will serve these in 1 1/2 gallon glass decanters placed on the bar and be served by the bartender. We feel if that is not enough choices for our guests, then they are on their own if they choose something else.