Conway Hall

An unusual venue in central london, inside there appears to be lots of different rooms, a humanist library and a big hall. I recently went to see burlesque in this venue, but I’m not sure the venue suited the genre.
We were sat in the balcony which provided us a good view of the stage. There were lots of seats available, but it lacked the atmosphere of a burlesque venue and felt like I was sat in a village hall. This wasn’t helped by the fact that not all the seats were taken upstairs.
It did feel a bit clinical and with a makeshift bar and concessions stand in the entrance. I’m not sure what it was like to be downstairs, but I did notice that they had to sit on uncomfortable looking plastic chairs. Whereas the seats in the balcony were cushioned.
Definitely would be a good venue for a lecture or something else but not quite for burlesque.

This is a happy but little strange place.
It’s a rented space venue and the groups that rent the rooms are everything from salsa dancing classes, lectures and pagan ritual groups.
Awesome people, amazing energy and really cool activities.
So worth checking out their website and what they got going on.

Claims to be «the landmark of London’s independent intellectual, political and cultural life», it hosts a wide variety of lectures, classes, performances, community and social events. It is the only remaining ethical society in the United Kingdom.
It’s a particularly great venue for the Sunday Sermons held by The School of Life

Big, rented space venue. Apparently they allow one hour and a half between space rented one and another– on the dot of 4pm (scheduled end of some vegan event) was the announcement, «please leave, or we have to pay extra because there is another event at 5:30!»
As rented spaces go, not bad– a bit crowded with the stalls, but that’s how these events go-​not the venue’s fault. Good, bright lighting, high ceilings.

One of the best Tango Clubs in town holds its Milonga here most Fridays. Some days you could be in Argentina it is so right. Great floor and acoustics, plus the organisers have a great Cocktail Bar, yep you can drink and Tango. Come along and take a look.

I’ve been to Conway hall 3 times in the past month so needless to say it has something going for it :) Well, not the hall exactly, but the sorts of events put on there. As it’s the base for SPES, they tend to hire out the venue to some really cool organisations, such as Centre for Inquiry and British Humanist Association. I believe they also hold some philosophy sorts of classes and workshops. It’s a bit hard to find as it is tucked into a corner of Red Lion Square. One might expect a large, grander entrance but it is quite plain and easy to miss if you don’t take the time to look. But it’s worth it :)

What a strange little place! Half town hall, half follk rock concert venue. I came here on Saturday for the Betsey Trotwood’s Winterlude and frankly had a brilliant time.
The strange thing about the day was, that while we were listening to folk and rock music, all of the other usual events were going on. So I can tell you with good authority that you can do yoga, classes on method acting and lectures in social science, as well as drinking ale and dancing about in the main hall (although unfortunately you won’t be able to do that every day).
A rather grand venue for a bunch of rocky hippies, but a great one. They also get points for being so polite, and changing the loo paper in the very very clean loos halfway through the day. Check out what they’ve got going on, it’s worth a look.

Conway Hall is the legendary base of the South Place Ethical Society (SPES) and is and has been home to ethical, humanist and secular organisations and groups for many years. An historic place for freethinkers, rationalists, humanists and others. Wonderful and popular concerts on Sundays and they hire out rooms for suitable organisations for meetings, events, lectures and so on. A wonderful piece of British history that is still going strong today.