Central Hall Westminster – the iconic Grade II* listed Methodist venue opposite Westminster Abbey – has unveiled The Susanna Wesley, a 919sqm blank canvas space, purposefully transformed to meet the demands of the modern events landscape.

Once home to the venue’s in-house café Wesley’s, the lower-ground level has now been comprehensively reimagined as a flexible, high-capacity environment for conferences, exhibitions, brand activations, and full-venue takeovers. The conversion signals a strategic shift for Central Hall Westminster, repurposing underused space into a much-needed asset for London’s event scene.

“It wasn’t making enough sense operationally as a café,” explains Ella Parchment from Central Hall Westminster’s marketing team. “We found that while Wesley’s had occasional peaks — such as during tours or uncatered events — the space was underutilised. Meanwhile, demand for large-scale event space within the building was growing.”

A Versatile Venue Within a Venue

The Susanna Wesley is now the only true blank canvas within Central Hall Westminster, offering event organisers a rare degree of creative freedom inside a listed building. While the rest of the venue maintains its historic Edwardian architecture and grand decor, this new space is modern, minimalist, and adaptable — ideal for clients who want to transform a space completely to suit their brand or theme.

Natural light floods the area from above through unique skylights, lending the space a bright, airy feel despite its lower-ground location. And at 919sqm with a standing capacity of up to 1,000 people, it rivals — and in some areas exceeds — the venue’s other flagship spaces like the Lecture Hall and Library.

The new area can be hired as one large room – The Wesley Suite – or divided into three interconnecting rooms: the Aldersgate Room, Epworth Library, and Westminster Foyer, allowing flexible setups for anything from exhibitions to breakout and networking spaces.

“It’s more than just ‘an extra space’ — it’s an extra big space,” says Ella. “And for those hiring the whole venue, it finally provides dedicated exhibition capacity for sponsors, pop-ups, and networking that can run in tandem with a conference upstairs.”

Smart Tech, Modern Fit-Out

Despite being housed in a historic venue, The Susanna Wesley is fully future-ready. Each room features high-spec AV and onsite technical support.

Lighting packages offer everything from elegant white uplighting to brand-themed colour washes and full dynamic programming with gobos and projections. The space is also kitted out with modular power options and an online exhibitor ordering system to streamline logistics for large builds.

A Strategic Step Toward the Future

The decision to rework the lower-ground floor space was a collective one by the venue’s board, made with an eye on both legacy and long-term commercial sustainability.

Meanwhile, a new, smaller café has been created at ground level in the Broadbent Room and foyer area — a much more visible and accessible location for passers-by and delegates alike.

The new café seats around 40 and focuses on grab-and-go service, better aligned with the pace of the modern events industry.

Central Hall Westminster’s heritage remains deeply embedded in every part of its offering. Built in 1912 as a purpose-built meeting and conference space – even while serving as a Methodist church – it famously hosted the first meeting of the United Nations, as well as speeches from global icons like Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and more recently, a growing number of cultural events and live performances.

With The Susanna Wesley, the venue adds a new chapter to its story: one that caters to today’s agile, creative, and brand-led events sector without compromising its historical roots.

“We’ve already had bookings for October,” adds Ella.

“The industry’s excited, and so are we. In a market like London, it’s rare to see a space of this scale and flexibility launch — and even rarer to find one inside a building with such a story to tell.”

Find out more about Central Hall Westminster here: https://www.c-h-w.com/venue/1000-to-2000-people/