Effective Business Events Blog   •   July 5th, 2017

With outdoor space and bars with beer gardens in central London limited, it is no surprise that rooftop garden events are becoming increasing popular and springing up all over not only the capital but around the world.

One of the earliest and best-known the rooftop garden event was the iconic Kensington Roof Gardens, which was notorious for its celebrity parties and recently closed its doors after 37 years. However, there are certainly no shortage of similar locations offering more modern facilities to attract a trendy crowd and what better location to sip a cocktail basking in the sunshine whilst admiring the superb views.

A former multi storey car park, Skylight has been completely revolutionised and is returning this spring to Tobacco Dock with three floors of games, sports screenings and street food offering amazing city views while the resident DJ spins his tracks. The bar is themed around a British Lawn Club offering games such as croquet and pétanque and in the winter months it becomes a rooftop ice rink – the only one in Europe!

Over on the South Bank of the River Thames, The Rumpus Room is a riverside rooftop bar with lush greenery, plush sofas and comfortable spaces perfect for enjoying the iconic view. They offer a range of British -American inspired cocktails and weekly live music featuring some of London’s hottest bands.

The Sky Garden located inside 20 Fenchurch Street, aka The Walkie Talkie Building close to Tower Bridge is Europe’s highest garden at 155m tall offering the best views across London with a bar and Fenchurch Restaurant, often with live music during the weekend evenings. You can book a free one hour visit to the Sky Garden up to three weeks before the date by simply booking on their website – but you have to be quick as the places get snapped up!

The Radio Rooftop Bar is extremely popular for it’s rooftop garden events and situated on the 10^th floor the ME London Hotel in the Strand and offers striking views across the River Thames and London’s skyline with tasty Tapas and a range of cocktails on the menu.

And it’s not just London offering these stunning rooftop bars.  Across the Atlantic ocean, we will be using the Sky Lounge at the at the Hyatt centric, Times square, New York for breakfast and evening cocktails for our guests attending a travel Incentive reward for one of our Global IT clients in September.

In Europe we recently arranged an EMEA Partner Conference at the five-star Gran Miramar Hotel in Malaga and booked the rooftop bar for the after party for our guests to unwind after the gala awards dinner.

Other European cities offering great rooftop garden events include:

• The Rooftop Bar at Hotel Raphael in Rome with panoramic views of Rome
• Le Grill located on the 8^th floor of the world-famous Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo
• The Skyline Rooftop Bar offering the best views of Venice
• Bar le Perchoir in Paris with city views including the Eiffel Tower, but now so popular it has a secret front door and still long queues!

Many of these venues can be hired for private events such as corporate parties, product launches and receptions. When visiting any city, it is always worth researching to see if any bars offer a rooftop garden so that you can enjoy the views, just remember to check the weather forecast before you visit!