About Tobacco Dock

Make your event stand out. Tobacco Dock attracts the world's leading brands and their agencies to host everything from meetings for a dozen attendees to global conferences for thousands.

Architecture As Stunning As Your Content

Clients choose Tobacco Dock because its architecture is a catalyst for creativity. Whether a software user conference, a global product launch, a fashion show or an immersive consumer festival, brands and their agencies love the contrast between our flexible heritage building and cutting-edge experiential design and content.

Combine this with an award-winning team, entirely focused on the success of your event, and you have an unbeatable combination.

Award Winning

Tobacco Dock delivers an exceptional customer experience that inspires the world’s leading brands and organisations and their agencies to create their most compelling, memorable and effective events. The venue offers the convenience of flexible, high specification spaces within a historically rich atmosphere.

In recognition of the quality of our service we have been honoured with a trophy cabinet full of awards over the last few years including Gold for Best Summer Party Venue, Silver for Best Customer Service at a Venue and Bronze for Best Catering at a Venue in the 2021 London Venue Awards and 3 Golds in the 2022 Eventex Awards for Best Venue, Most Versatile Venue and Best Outdoor Venue for our rooftop bar, Skylight. Most recently, we've scooped the Gold for Best Events Venue in the 2023 Micebook Awards, Gold for Best Large Scale Events Venue and Silver for Best Conference Venue (+500 Theatre Style) in the 2023 Conference and Venue Awards. We brought home 2 Bronze awards for Best Large Scale Venue and Best Venue Team and Gold for Best Venue with a View in the 2023 London Venue and Catering Awards as well as Gold for Best Venue in this year's Conference and Venue Awards!

Keep your eyes peeled as we add to the trophy cabinet!

A selection of recent awards

Meet the Team

When you hold an event here, not only do you enjoy the use of world-leading events facilities and spaces, but you are also looked after by one of the most talented teams in the industry. We’d like to invite you to Meet the Team!

Leadership Team

Our leadership team supports everyone at Tobacco Dock to deliver an outstanding experience for our clients, to nurture relationships with our partners and suppliers and to deliver our vision of being the destination of choice for creative events in the UK.

Chairman and Joint CEO
Patrick Donovan

With a career spanning media, advertising, sponsorship and event marketing, Patrick has a global perspective on all things brand experience. He and Jonny founded Tobacco Dock in 2012, now one of London’s busiest venues.

Co-founder and Joint CEO
Jonathan Read

Jonny worked in live events and brand communications for over 20 years before he and Patrick discovered a moribund Tobacco Dock and saw the opportunity for creating a new, world-class venue for London.

Director of Business Development
Vicki Coleman

Vicki's been with us since 2013 and has helped our schedule grow from a few events to +250 a year. She identifies and introduces leading global brands to our venue and loves hosting clients as part of our hospitality and showcase programme.

Commercial Director
Charlotte Smart

Rising from account manager to Director of Sales in just six years and now Tobacco Dock's Commercial Director, Charlotte isn’t just an inspirational leader, she’s our Queen of Data – analysing trends to ensure we’re exploiting every opportunity to host creative events and experiences.

Director of Venue Operations
Chris Floyd

We wish we knew where Iron Man Chris gets his energy! Keeping our Grade 1 listed building in tip-top condition, Chris also oversees all our Venue Operations projects and informs our wider company strategy.

Director of Finance
Michelle Hunt

Every business needs an experienced hand on the financial tiller and Michelle is ours! With us since 2013, she’s tasked with maintaining strong relationships with our clients and maximising our profitability in every way.

Event Sales

Your first point of contact when you enquire about an event at Tobacco Dock. Our sales team will advise you on all aspects of your event – optimal guest flow, the spaces that best accommodate your requirements and how our supplier partners can make your creative vision a reality. A fully consultative process up to handover to the Event Operations Team.

Head of Sales
Sian Beechener

Sian loves bringing people together and this passion is reflected in many successfully delivered events. Sian's creativity means she is full of great ideas for our team and clients.

Account Manager
Shona Blanford

Native South-East Londoner Shona grew up walking past Tobacco Dock and has always had the venue in her career sights! Her 7 years' experience of working in leading venues in London, passion for foodie events and her interest in transforming historic spaces make her an exciting addition to the Tobacco Dock sales team.

Account Executive
Hannah Bradshaw

Life of the party Hannah is in charge of the bookings at the Dock Gallery, our self-contained conference and events space. She specialises in building fantastic relationships with clients and an expert in gathering all the necessary elements for an extraordinary event.

Account Manager
Sophie Clay

Sophie began her career organising events in hotels, specialising in conferences, meetings and weddings. She found her niche in event sales, pitching venues and developing relationships with clients. She’s inspired by the endless opportunities Tobacco Dock can offer and loves to get her teeth into a challenge!

Senior Account Manager
Sabrina Stefan

Our resident ray of sunshine, Sabrina spreads cheer wherever she goes. With seven years’ events experience, she assiduously supports her much-loved clients, using her strong relationships with other departments and suppliers to find solutions.

Account Manager
Lucy Turner

From organising clay pigeon shoots to weddings and everything in between, Lucy’s event background has left her ready for whatever you throw at her. A master at nurturing strong working relationships with our clients she’s on hand to take your event from great to extraordinary!

Senior Account Manager
Kathleen Wilkinson

Super creative Kathleen comes to us with a wealth of experience in working with global brands across the fashion, beauty and F&B industries. Specialising in PR / marketing launches and celebrity talent deals in her previous role, her passion is for live events and creating a great experience for attendees and clients alike.

Event Operations

Once your event is contracted, the Event Operations Team guide you through the process of delivering a successful event from health and safety advice to supplier selection and make the entire planning process as seamless as possible.

Head of Events
Alicia Masson

Alicia heads up our Event Operations team. Her background of working at London’s leading arts venues and museums is put to great use in creating events that align with our clients’ missions within our buzzing listed building.

Senior Event Operations Manager
Alice Botham

Backgrounds don’t come more wide-ranging than Alice’s, with form in everything from museum and gallery curation to live music events and premises licensing. As a previous hirer of the venue, she’s here to support clients through the process of breathing life into their ideas.

Senior Event Operations Manager
David Byrne

David began in the Tobacco Dock facilities team, so has an in-depth knowledge of our building. His operational talents were quickly spotted and he was swiped by the events team, where he remains a true asset.

Senior Event Operations Manager
Chelsey Hulbert

Once a client of Tobacco Dock, Chelsey has a great insight into how the process works from ‘the other side’, which helps her to anticipate our clients’ needs and give them the best experience possible.

Senior Event Operations Manager
Kirsty West

After a degree in Events at Leeds, Kirsty made her start in the industry working agency-side on everything from corporate music events to awards dinners to speedboating championships. Her experience means she has a deep understanding of our clients’ needs and how we can make things work for them.

Venue Operations

Keeping both our 200 year old, Grade 1 listed building and cutting-edge tech infrastructure in world-class order is no mean feat and our Venue Operations Team focus on ensuring our facilities are maintained in tip-top condition and also lead on our capital and sustainability investment.

Head of Facilities
Fabio Ferreira

You'll rarely find Fabio in the same place twice in a week. Whether he's overseeing space upgrades, masterminding Workspaces fit-outs, or managing the upkeep of our Grade 1 listed building, his days are always varied.

Maintenance Manager
Chris Galbraith

Our go-to for everything maintenance, when things go wrong Chris is the man to call. A master of all trades, he’s always on hand to do everything from venue upkeep to speedy repairs during events.

History

From luxury imports to tech launches, Tobacco Dock has been at the centre of hosting all manner of commodities for over two centuries. The listed timbers and curved brick vaults have witnessed trade deals, a tiger attack, sleep deprivation challenges and Victorian tasting days not to mention world-class conferences, consumer shows and product launches.

Built in 1812 as a hub for precious cargo arriving from the New World, such as wine and, of course, tobacco, Tobacco Dock originally spanned 70 acres. Now occupying just two-fifths of the original site, this Grade 1 listed building still offers a generous 57 spaces over 16,000 sqm.

Over the years Tobacco Dock has had many different identities, from storage facility to shopping centre. Since its relaunch in 2012, Tobacco Dock has developed a reputation as being the destination venue in London. Let's see what the next two centuries bring!

How to find tobacco dock

Tobacco Dock is located in the heart of East London’s thriving enterprise zone, within striking distance of Central London and straightforward to reach by public transport, lying between Wapping (Overground) and Shadwell (Overground and DLR) stations, as well as plenty of nearby bus stops (routes 100 and D3).

  • Shadwell Station

    5 mins

  • canary wharf dlr

    15 mins

  • shoreditch overground

    2 stops

  • wapping rail Station

    6 mins

  • bank dlr

    1 stop

  • tower hill station

    15 mins

Our Grand Entrance

"Regardless of your department, Tobacco Dock offers the opportunity to partake in a huge variety of projects whilst working with world leading brands on innovative and industry leading events. Tobacco Dock has provided me with the tools and support to succeed and significantly progress my career and in turn I am now delighted to be able to offer the same to our rapidly growing team. All employees benefit from mentorship, regular appraisals and development opportunities with a focus on encouraging growth and celebrating achievements."

Charlotte Smart, Commercial Director

Join our team

Be a part of something extraordinary!

At Tobacco Dock we are proud to have a team as unique as our spaces, who strive to deliver an exceptional customer experience that inspires the world’s leading brands and organisations to create their most compelling, memorable events.