The Town Hall Hotel Reviews
Reviews
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4.8 out of 5 rating
4.8 out of 5 rating
66 reviews
97% recommend it
Badges
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![Victoria]()
Victoria Sent on 21/11/2024Lovely venue, unfortunately terrible events team.
We booked our wedding ceremony and drinks reception at the Townhall two years before our wedding date. There were red flags from the start: our contract had another couple’s name on it and listed the wrong fee. In the lead-up to the wedding, there were four different contact changes. While I understand that staff turnover happens, each change felt like starting from scratch. It seemed there were no proper handover notes, and I had to repeatedly explain what we wanted.
We were offered a discount code for rooms at the hotel, but it ended up costing us more than if we had just booked online ourselves. The day before the wedding, we arrived and were told that the bar we had booked wasn’t actually available—apparently, it hadn’t been for over a year. This was news to us. I had to deal with someone I’d never spoken to before, even though I had already had planning calls with two other staff members. I was treated as if I had lied about booking the bar and was asked to provide our booking confirmation. The staff had a year and multiple conversations with me to verify this, yet failed to do so.
We had been promised a fully stocked bar with dedicated bar staff. Instead, we got a room with one person serving drinks, who disappeared halfway through the event. Our guests had to serve themselves. The room itself had not been set up as requested, despite me providing a floor plan ahead of time at their request. They ignored it. On the morning of the wedding, I received a call asking if we wanted reserved signs put down, something we had already discussed in a call and over email. This should have been organized well before the day of the event!
As the ceremony approached, the room still wasn’t ready. Our videographer and groomsmen had to step in and reorganize it because the events team was nowhere to be found. We had also put down a tab for soft drinks, but only two were served, and our guests had to ask for them.
After the wedding, we emailed the Townhall to request the remaining balance from the tab. Three emails later, we still haven’t received a response. For a five-star hotel, this level of service is absolutely baffling and rude. I cannot recommend this venue—the only stress I experienced on my wedding day came from them. Despite all my careful planning, they ignored nearly everything.
In stark contrast, our evening venue was fantastic. They had far more to organize than the Townhall did, yet everything went smoothly. Their professionalism only highlighted what a shambles the Townhall was. -
![Frances]()
Frances Sent on 12/01/2022We are so glad we chose Town Hall Hotel for our wedding
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!
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![J L]()
Juliet Sent on 01/11/2021Lovely interiors but that's about it.
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. -
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![Londonbride]()
Phoebe Sent on 07/06/2021The Perfect Venue for a London Wedding
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! -
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