St Mary’s Guildhall

You can seat 100 guests at round tables, or host 110 at a reception, in a stone hall still hung with the 500-year-old Coventry Tapestry, and your delegates can walk from Coventry station in about 10 minutes. Smaller meetings cost from £30 plus VAT per delegate, with lunch, refreshments, a screen and internet included. The building stands on Bayley Lane in the Cathedral Quarter, a minute’s walk from the cathedral ruins. The venue dates the first hall to the early 1340s and says the Great Hall was rebuilt in stone from about 1392.

Event spaces and capacities

You can take a group from drinks to dinner without leaving the building, because the Medieval Kitchen and Muniment Room are offered for receptions of up to 110 alongside the Great Hall. The venue names ten event spaces, four of them listed for meetings, and 110 is its largest published figure. It publishes no floor areas, exhibition space, or theatre, classroom and cabaret figures.

Capacities as published by the venue in its latest brochure, its June 2024 brochure and its private hire page, checked 4 November 2026. The Fullers Room takes up to 14 and the Tanners Room up to 12, with no layout stated. The brochures differ on some rooms. The latest gives the Dame Ellen Terry and Drapers rooms 20 to 40 guests each. The older gives the Dame Ellen Terry Room 50 at a reception or 26 at an oval table, the Drapers Room 10 to 20 or 16 at an oval table, the Great Hall 110 for banqueting and Tales of Tea 30 to 55. Tales of Tea takes 40 to 60 in its existing layout in the latest brochure.

Getting there and parking

Your guests can leave the car behind. The venue gives the walk from Coventry station as 10 minutes on one page and 13 minutes on another. Pool Meadow Bus Station is a short walk and buses 11, 55, U12, X1 and X18 stop nearby. Its 2024 map gives road times of 20 minutes from Birmingham International Airport and 30 from Birmingham city centre.

There is no on-site parking. The closest car parks are Salt Lane multi-storey and Grove Street, with limited Blue Badge parking on St Mary Street, where charges may apply. Coaches can use parking around the cathedral or the Herbert, with a drop-off for disabled guests on Priory Road. Bollards stop through traffic on Bayley Lane and the surrounding paths are cobbled.

You can plan access room by room from the accessibility statement. Lifts, levelled floors and raised platforms were added in the restoration, but some areas have no step-free access. The Great Hall has ramp access and a flat floor. The Medieval Kitchen has three steps or a lift. Tales of Tea has steps or a small lift. The Drapers Room is reached by nine steps from the Great Hall. The June 2024 brochure says the Dame Ellen Terry Room has step-free access. The lift platform is 110cm by 146cm, with a door about 90cm wide and a limit of 400kg or five people. There is a hearing loop, accessible toilets and a quiet space.

Catering, AV and accommodation

You can keep food and room under one booking, because catering is on site. The day delegate package costs from £30 per person plus VAT, minimum 10 delegates, and covers room hire, tea and coffee, snacks, buffet lunch, notepads, water, an LED screen with stylus and internet. Room-only hire starts at £30 an hour plus VAT, subject to availability.

The Occasions dining package is £60 per person at lunch and £65 in the evening including VAT, with minimums of 70 in the Great Hall, 40 in the Undercroft and 10 in the Guild Room. Buffets at Tales of Tea start from £30 per person including VAT. Christmas dining in the Great Hall is evenings only, 60 to 90 guests, at £69.95 per person including VAT. Bookings of 40 day delegates can add one free extra, such as a tapestry tour or breakout room, subject to minimum spend.

The venue holds MIA Accreditation and says it sends no waste to landfill. It lists no bedrooms of its own, but points guests to Historic Coventry Stays cottages within walking distance and Coombe Abbey Hotel, 20 minutes away by car.

What to ask before you book

• Which capacity applies to the Dame Ellen Terry and Drapers rooms for your layout, and can you have theatre or classroom figures in writing?
• Is the Great Hall limit 100 or 110 seated, and what are the December restrictions the brochure mentions?
• What will room hire cost? Tales of Tea hire may start from £500 including VAT, but no Great Hall charge is published.
• Is the Guild Room up to 23 guests from £50, as the private hire page says, or 22 at £100, as the brochures say? It is daytime only, hirers must buy restaurant food, ordered 24 hours ahead, and an evening event needs the whole restaurant.
• Will day visitors be in the building? It is usually open to them Thursday to Sunday and lists closures for private events.
• How does exhibition or AV kit get in, given the cobbles and bollards? The venue publishes no loading details.

Related on Events Review

• Conference venues in Coventry
• Historic event venues
• Warwick Conferences
• Coventry Building Society Arena
• Coventry Transport Museum
• Merchant Taylors’ Hall, York
• Trades Hall of Glasgow
• The Merchants House of Glasgow
• Choose the venue around the event, not the headline capacity
• Turn venue accessibility claims into a usable event plan

Sources: room hire, corporate events, events and celebrations, the building, plus the pages linked above, all on stmarysguildhall.co.uk, checked 4 November 2026.