St. James' Court, A Taj Hotel

St. James' Court, A Taj Hotel sits in a handsome Edwardian building on Buckingham Gate, footsteps from Buckingham Palace, St. James' Park, Westminster and Victoria Station. Behind the red-brick facade is a landscaped courtyard built around a Victorian fountain and the longest Shakespearean frieze in the world, giving the hotel a genuine sense of occasion in the heart of SW1. The hotel has 329 rooms and suites, with the adjoining Taj 51 Buckingham Gate Suites and Residences available for larger residential programmes. Dining is a real strength: the Michelin-starred Quilon, Bombay Brasserie, House of Ming and Kona, each with private dining options. For events there are more than a dozen flexible spaces. The Ballroom, with its domed trellised ceiling, crystal chandeliers and gold-accented panelling, holds up to 300 for a reception, 180 theatre-style and 140 for a seated dinner. The Windsor works well for mid-scale conferences and dinners and can be paired with the Ballroom, while the connected Buckingham, Balmoral and Clarence rooms suit multi-room hires with a natural breakout and catering flow. Smaller boardrooms — Elizabeth, Henry, Charles, George, Richard, Victoria, Edward and the Tudor — cover everything from four-person meetings to 35-person training sessions. Outdoors, the TH@51 Courtyard hosts summer receptions for up to 200 and the rooftop Terrace up to 30.