Comptoir Bakery School offers a Christmas party with a built-in talking point: instead of simply booking dinner, groups can gather inside a family-run bakery school for food, drinks and, if they want it, a hands-on baking session. Set beneath a railway arch on Druid Street, within walking distance of London Bridge Station, Arch 96 combines industrial character with a warm, homely feel and enough space for anything from an intimate supper to a lively end-of-year reception.
The venue can be hired exclusively, with a main floor, mezzanine, bar and café, and a fully equipped professional kitchen. Seated dinners work for 20 to 50 guests, standing parties can reach 150, and mixed-format events suit groups of roughly 50 to 120. Ambient lighting, a premium sound system and flexible layouts mean the room can be styled around the type of Christmas celebration you have in mind, whether that is a relaxed dinner, drinks-led party or something more interactive.
Food is naturally central. In-house catering by Comptoir Bakery can include seasonal sharing menus, premium canapés, buffets or bespoke chef-designed menus, with celebration cakes, welcome drinks, Champagne upgrades and three-hour bar packages also available.
For a more memorable office party, groups can build in a workshop too. The festive option is a Christmas baking workshop, where teams bake and decorate their own Christmas treats under the guidance of the bakery’s chefs, working with warming spices, chocolate and cinnamon, with a little friendly competition along the way. Workshops take up to 40 guests, with 24 on the ground floor and 16 on the mezzanine. Other options range from a lighter networking experience with guided baking stations to a fully immersive, chef-led cake decoration challenge, where teams prepare, bake and decorate their own creations before a light-hearted judging session. At the top end, a curated premium experience can be tailored entirely around a brand or occasion, complete with a Champagne welcome and a Comptoir apron signed by patissier Sébastien Wind.
That makes Arch 96 particularly good for Christmas parties that want more than drinks and dinner. Guests can learn, bake, eat and socialise in the same space, while an on-site event manager takes care of the practical details. The main floor is wheelchair accessible, with accessible toilets, though the mezzanine is reached by stairs, and the venue is pet friendly. Licensed until 11pm, with events finishing by midnight, it is a sociable, food-focused alternative to the usual Christmas function room.