How to Book a Union Bar

Are you planning a society party, fundraiser, social, quiz night, or other fun event with your friends? Do you want to find the perfect venue that suits your needs and budget? If so, you’re in luck! We have four bars and one café space you want to know about.

Booking a space for your event is easy, just follow the advice below, but be aware if you’re trying to book an event for a club or society only the President, Treasurer or Social sec can complete the venue booking form.

Psst! Looking for where to book a table for Sports Night at Phineas? The society's president, treasurer or social sec just needs to complete this dedicated form.

Let’s get started!

 

Step 1: Check venue availability and equipment

The first thing you need to do is check the availability of the venues so you can see which is available to book and what equipment each venue has. You can find out more about each of the venues below:

• The Huntley (upstairs only): A relaxed space with comfy sofas and space to chill out. Ideal for smaller gatherings of up to 40 people. Available to book for socials every weekday & every evening excluding Wednesday. No extra equipment such as mic’s, projectors, or speakers are available.
• Mullys: Our much loved basement bar is always a sure fire hit for Karaoke nights, quizzes and party’s. Great for events of 40-250 people, Mully’s also has a stage, projector, microphones, and DJ booth. Available to book for events every weekday evening excluding Wednesday.
• Phineas: Get the party started in Phineas with a stage, microphone and DJ booth one end and seating at the other. The bar’s layout is ideal for creating different zones for your event. The bar is great for larger groups between 100- 350 and regularly hosts live music nights, quizzes, club nights meaning it is only available to book Saturday evenings for whatever you fancy (exclusive use).
• The Institute: A modern and open plan bar with space for dancing or relaxing that during the summer months spreads out onto the terrace. Great for larger events of between 100-300 people depending on the time of year. Institute is popular for quizzes, live music or parties and has a microphone, sound system and digital screen access for events as well as capacity to serve pizzas. The Institute is available to book on Saturdays only.
• The Print Room Café: Located at the heart of Bloomsbury campus, this versatile space is great for if you want to host a private or public catered event. Capable of hosting up to 60 people, the café is open for private event bookings every Monday evening and other weekday evenings for public events subject to availability. 

You should aim to book your event at least two weeks in advance for the best chance of securing the venue you want. However, bars can sometimes be booked with less notice subject to availability and staffing.

To check the availability of all these venues, you can use our online calendar here. Once confirmed events are added to this calendar blocking out the space, the name and location of each booked event is in the title. If there's a blank space or the venue you want isn't visible at the date/time you want then the bar is available to book.  

Step 2: Check venue requirements

Each of the venues have slightly different requirements and equipment available. These will be outlined at the top of the venue booking form so take a minute to read them before submitting your venue request and making a final decision on which venue you want to book.

Of course, now is also a good time to make sure you’ve got all the information about your event ready. Roughly how many people will be coming, what type of event is it (fun, charity, dance, formal etc) and what’s going to be going on (are you bringing games, planning to use the stage, looking for seating or a dance floor, want food to be available, need a karaoke or DJ set up?)

Finally, one of the requirements you’ll need to remember when booking a bar for an event is that there is likely to be a minimum spend requirement to secure your booking. This is essentially how much money will need to be spent by your guests throughout the event, and the agreement that if this is not met then you (or the society/club if booked via the president/treasurer) agree to pay the difference. The other option is a flat rate hire fee.

Lots of events meet the minimum spend easily, but exactly how much it will be for your event depends on multiple factors (including which venue you’re booking, the number of guests, how many staff will be needed, if private or public, when and how long the event is to name a few) and you’ll be advised what will be the minimum spend for your event before confirming your booking.
 

Step 3: Submit your booking form

You now just need to complete your chosen venue’s booking form below:

·         The Huntley (upstairs) Venue Request Form

·         Mully’s Venue Request Form

·         Phineas Weekend Venue Request Form

·         The Institute Bar Venue Request Form

·         Print Room Café Booking Enquiry

It’s quick and easy, but if you have any questions then feel free to reach out us on [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.

Once you submit the form, one of our Students' Union Venues Team will email to follow up with any other information needed or what the minimum spend requirement is. If the venue is also no longer available, or the minimum spend is above your budget, the team will be able to suggest some alternatives as well.

Step 4: Confirmation

Once you’ve replied to the Venues and Entertainment Team you’ll receive a final confirmation of your event booking via email.

Please note all bookings are subject to availability and are made at staff discretion.

And that’s it! You have successfully booked a bar for your next uni event. Now you can relax and enjoy your event with your friends

Top tip for societies and clubs:  Don’t forget to shout about it!

There’s lots of free ways you can promote your event email your members, share on socials add your event to the Students’ Union ‘What’s On’ calendar and more.

We’re always happy to help spread the world – so if you’re sharing your event on Instagram tag us (@theunionbars)! We’ll reshare and make sure your event is listed in our weekly event roundups. Equally share any photos you take on the night and tag us, we’d love to see your event in full swing and there’s no better way of convincing more people to come next time than to show them all the fun people had this time!