On business in London? Do it like a winner
Business travel doesn’t have to be boring. Go big, bold, bling and boastful with our guide to London for business travellers. And don’t forget to treat yourself once you’ve sealed that deal.
Pre-meeting caffeine hit
Pull yourself up by your bootlaces with a seriously good cup of pre-meeting coffee. Workshop Coffee Co is committed to providing ‘nothing short of the best coffee possible’.
It demands its coffees are ‘sweet, clean and fresh’ – principles underpinned by meticulous sourcing, roasting and brewing rules. Knock back one of their famed espressos, shuffle your notes and feel the fear disappear. You’re going to own that meeting.
And with 4 branches across London you can get the same cup of coffee whether in north London, up west, or way out east.
The veggie breakfast is pretty special too.
A working lunch to practise your words
Notes is a great place to work while scoffing your lunch. Throw your papers across the large (and plentiful) wooden tables. Scrutinise figures and small type with oodles of natural light pouring through the large front windows.
Feel inspired by the arty, bookish vibe as you slurp a bowl of delish homemade soup, or be seduced by the sumptuous sandwiches.
It’s a stone’s throw from Trafalgar Square so London is your oyster…
Where to schmooze your clients
Show your clients who they’re dealing with by taking them to a fantastically-flash art deco styled restaurant for dinner. Set on the 24th floor of Tower 42, a sought-after central location – City Social has the lot.
The black and gold detailing looks stunning against the backdrop of the London skyline. Then there's the food. The Bar Menu offers a reasonably priced 2 or 3-course set menu with delicious starters, mains and desserts.
If you really need to impress, go a la carte. When starters include quail and lobster, you're on to a winner. There's a reasonable vegan, too, to cover all bases. If you need a final push to get the deal through, the raspberry soufflé will give you the extra time you need to seal the deal.
If deals were won on restaurant choice alone…
Hold a conference with plenty of bling
Where else can you chat about next quarter’s figures in the shadow of a giant, suspended planet Earth? When it comes to jaw-dropping conference venues, the Natural History Museum takes some beating.
Hold your daytime conference in The Flett Theatre which has seats for 209 people, a vast projector screen, and a lectern to present from.
Then in the evening move delegates into The Earth Room where they can gossip surrounded by moon rock and minerals, before taking the escalator into a giant planet Earth and exploring other galleries.
Boy that was some conference.
Check out the Natural History Museum venues
Drinks to toast the deal (or to lick your wounds)
You owned the meeting. The client loves you. The deal is yours.
Celebrate with a high-end cocktail at the Booking Office Bar and Restaurant. The bar was once St Pancras’ original booking office - designed by prolific architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. Its high ceilings, dark, polished beams, and longer-than-a-swimming-pool bar scream glamour and success.
The booking office sits alongside what was once the Midland Grand Hotel – designed by Gilbert Scott to make St Pancras railway station truly spectacular.
Now called St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, it’s one of the world’s best-loved Gothic Revival buildings.
Check out the Booking Office Bar and Restaurant
Treat yourself (if it was a good day)
Bosses are buying you drinks, complimentary emails are doing the rounds, jealous colleagues are gossiping. You feel good. And when you feel good you like to treat yourself.
Selfridges is great for a self-indulgent splurge.
Exclusive designs from the likes of Bella Freud, a shoe department you can get properly lost in and that Mulberry handbag you’ve always wanted.
Men are equally well-served – time to finally buy that Belstaff jacket or Paul Smith shirt?
Console yourself (if it was a bad day)
Things didn’t quite go as planned. You fluffed your lines. Your numbers were wrong. The client thought you a bit of a joke. It’s time to get some perspective (it’s only work, after all).
And the National Gallery will certainly give you scope.
Gaze into the hazy seascapes of JMW Turner and feel tiny and insignificant.
Ponder the rural England of yesteryear with John Constable.
Be amazed by a simple vase of flowers with van Gogh.
Check out the National Gallery
Get your head down for the night
Reflect on your day good or bad at the Ham Yard Hotel. With its elegant drawing room and library, it’s quintessentially English.
Walk into the library and find elegant but comfy chairs to sink down in, high ceilings to glance up to, classic novels to lose yourself in, and paintings to look at.
And that’s before you’ve even seen your room. It should make you smile – even after the most boring, endless business meeting.