Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration

Set in a stunningly restored 18th and 19th century waterworks, Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration offers an exceptional setting for events – everything from private views to creative away days, receptions and dinners.

Our flexible event spaces including contemporary galleries, original illustrations by Quentin Blake and gardens intertwine to create a cultural backdrop full of story, character and imagination.

We are the UK’s only charity for illustration – art with a purpose. Our exhibitions and projects celebrate illustration, support illustrators and empower people of all ages to tell their stories. Illustration changes everything and by choosing Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration for your event, you are making the world a more curious, equal and compassionate place.

Originally established in 1613, this site once played a crucial role in delivering fresh water to London. New River Head housed reservoirs, filter beds and engines that processed and pumped water using wind and horse power to steam engines and later electric pumps. The site fell out of use in the 1950s; until we opened our doors on 5 June 2026, its gates had been closed for decades.

Today, New River Head’s iconic buildings – including the magnificent Engine House and London’s oldest surviving windmill – have been restored to create a permanent home for illustration. Illustrated heritage panels, biodiverse planting and a sculpture commemorating the horses that worked on the site create a connection with London’s history. Our beautiful galleries and light-filled spaces showcase the power of illustration to document, explain and reimagine the world around us.

Situated at the heart of the Centre, our cafe is a bright and flexible space. It opens directly onto the south-facing Cafe Terrace and is the natural setting for receptions, dinners, daytime meetings, talks and screenings.

The space combines the warmth of a cafe in a contemporary arts venue with the atmosphere of a lovingly restored heritage building. An original Quentin Blake mural gives the space a distinctive visual anchor for photos and conversations, while the terrace creates an easy indoor-outdoor flow for arrivals, breaks and summer receptions.

The Cafe is equipped with built-in AV for presentations, speeches, screenings and panel discussions, including projection, screen, ceiling speakers, digital display and local AV controls. Portable event kit can support live-streamed or hybrid formats by arrangement.

The Cafe Terrace offers a rare outdoor extension to a central London cultural venue. South-facing space and opening directly from the Boiler House Cafe, it is ideal for welcome drinks, summer receptions, networking breaks, informal photography moments and relaxed post-talk gatherings.

Surrounded by a landscaped urban garden, the terrace gives guests a sense of the Centre’s unique wider setting: a green, sociable space shaped by more than 400 years of London’s water history.

Our Creative Studio is a light-filled space designed for learning, making and discussion. It is well suited to workshops, away day breakouts, creative sessions, smaller talks, family sessions and participatory events.

When used alongside the Boiler House Cafe, the Creative Studio gives daytime events a practical breakout room and a natural space for guided creative activity. For smaller hires, it can also work as a focused meeting or workshop space, subject to the Centre’s learning and public programme.

The Studio has integrated AV, including a projector and screen, ceiling-mounted speakers, local touch controls and connection points for a portable AV kit, supporting presentations and some live or hybrid formats by arrangement.

Small, characterful and deeply connected to the site’s history, the Windmill Base offers a distinctive setting for intimate meetings, creative breakouts, residencies, small workshops and VIP holding.

London’s oldest surviving windmill and over 300 years old, this is a rare remnant of New River Head’s early history. Conserved and restored as part of the Centre, it brings the site’s water history into direct conversation with contemporary illustration, community projects and creative practice.

For venue hire, the Windmill Base works best as a supporting space within a larger event, a quiet breakout room, a small meeting space or a memorable stop within a guided journey across the site.

The Windmill Base can have community artwork installed as shown in the images, or this can be removed for your event by our exhibition technicians for a fee.