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If you’ve got delusions of grandeur, indulge them this month with the first ever dinner inside London’s most illustrious landmark. Kings, queens and grandees have assembled in their finery for lavish coronations and ill-advised weddings in Westminster Abbey ever since William the Conqueror was crowned there back in 1066. Now, this magnificent gothic space is throwing a rather different kind of bash – but don’t let that stop you getting out your glitziest crown, gown and sceptre if you’re lucky enough to land a ticket.
For one night only, this historic spot will be hosting a special dinner in honour of English Wine Week, which runs from Saturday June 20 to Sunday June 28. To find it, you’ll need to venture underground to Cellarium, the Abbey’s fourteenth century medieval undercroft, which once catered to Benedictine monks, and nowadays usually serves up Benugo snacks and sandwiches to visitors.
But on Monday June 22, it’ll get a bit of its former exclusivity back, as its vaulted stone interiors become the setting for a special dinner. The evening will begin with a drinks reception, followed by a guided three course meal with English wines from Balfour Winery. It’ll be a chance to learn about the craft of English wine growing as it soars in popularity and exposure. Once, wines grown in the UK were seen as a niche curiosity, but now climate change and an influx of investment and expertise has seen them branch out and blossom into the mainstream, with over 3,000 people working in this booming industry.
This isn’t something that would have surprised the original residents of Westminster Abbey: in the eleventh century, monasteries across England owned and managed their own vineyards. Still, they might be somewhat amused to see modern day Londoners have a knees up in their old provisions cellars. If you want to be among them, then now’s your chance.
Tickets are £77.25, and bookable in advance here. Who knows, your night may even have a bonus ghost sighting: spooks including The Unknown Warrior and polite monk Father Benedictus are known to appear to anyone brave enough to visit the Abbey after the crowds have gone home.
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