East Wintergarden offers "blank canvas" for events

With its high arched ceilings and glass walls, the East Wintergarden is a distinctive space for conferences, film shoots and concerts. Last year, it even branched out into weddings.

The possibilities at the Bank Street venue excite new manager Joanne Taylor, the former deputy, who replaced manager Vicky Parr last month.

Joanne arrived in Canary Wharf as an event co-ordinator in 2002, supervising bookings for Cabot Hall before it closed to make way for a shopping area in late 2006.

She said: "The East Wintergarden is a very flexible space. It's open to the imagination as to what you want to put in it.

"Looking back, it's amazing to think about the sort of events that have been here."

The main hall offers 682sq m of space for events, and has a 1,000-person standing capacity, 600 for theatre-style events or 500 for banqueting. The raised gallery looking onto the main stage seats 120 for theatre seating, or 100 for banqueting and 250 standing.

Prices for hire of the venue range from £3,000 per day for use of the gallery between 8am and 5pm, to £8,000 a day for hire of both the hall and gallery from 8am to midnight. It hosts an average of three to four events a week.

Over the last few years, the East Wintergarden has hosted events such as the Wharfstock Comic Relief concert, Labour party fundraising rallies, corporate conferences and the Canary Wharf Film Festival, aided by its four by three metre LED screen.

Joanne said: "We've had [BBC drama] Spooks in here. We've had pop videos filmed in here. There was even an advert done in here.

"Question Time was held in the East Wintergarden last month, and they've been back to us twice now.

"On the arts and events side, we're looking at how to utilise the space. We have regular comedy nights, and we're getting inquiries now for fashion shows.

"We also do a lot of conferences, dinner dances and product launches. The highlight was in 2005 when the venue was transformed into BA Club World. BA brought in a lot of their clients to show them how it was going to look.

"We also do a lot of bar mitzvas here. Last year, we were licensed to hold weddings and I'd like to look into that more as well. The space can work very well for Asian weddings and we've got a few bookings for this year.

"It's very attractive because it's something different. It's got a lovely high ceiling, and it's a blank canvas for a number of themes. Once people walk in here, they fall in love with it."

Go to eastwintergarden.com