Il Bottaccio, St. James's Park, London

Really nice building between St James Park and Hyde Park and just down the road from Buckingham Palace.

We recently visited for a wine tasting event (http://en.blog.qype.com/2008/05/15/quaffing-with-qype/) and had a great time. It's the perfect setting for high-end corporate stuff but the decor is pretty relaxed and classy (think 'gentleman's town house') so you could hold any kind of gathering/party/reception here and people would be impressed and well looked after I think.

Il Bottaccio is a 19th-century Renaissance building that overlooks Buckingham Palace Gardens. It now serves as an excellent function venue for hire: a place to stage your event, whether it's a corporate do, a product launch, or - as I was fortunate enough to attend last night - a showcase of wine producers: Moët Hennessy's inaugural New World wine showcase, 'Discover the Flavours of the World' (read here if you want to know more about the wine event itself).

This sort of building, more like an old private club, adds a lot of class to an event. It was very appropriate for last night's wine tasting: aged, classy, and luxurious. A large upstairs room was used for most of the producer's displays, while a smaller, exclusive downstairs library room was used for one of the high-end producers.

For a reception-style event, it looks like they could manage a couple of hundred people. According to their web site, they can cater dinners and put on dances, too. Venue staff were very pleasant and very helpful.