Colwick Hall is a Palladian mansion standing in its own parkland beside a lake at Colwick, and yet it is barely two miles from the middle of Nottingham — a combination that very few venues anywhere can manage. The estate goes back to Saxon times and passed to the Byron family in the 14th century, who held it for some 150 years before moving on to Newstead Abbey; the poet’s name has clung to the place ever since. The house you see today was built for John Musters in the 1770s to designs by John Carr of York, working with the Nottingham builder Samuel Stretton: red brick with stone dressings, a central block flanked by low wings, and four Ionic columns beneath a pediment on the front.
It has had an eventful life. The hall was sacked and partly burned during the Reform Bill riots of 1831, bought by the racecourse company towards the end of the century, and later passed to the city before becoming the hotel it is now. The listed interiors have kept their best features — hand-painted ceilings, stone staircases, high ceilings and generous windows — and the grounds have formal gardens, a fountain, wisteria archways and more than 60 acres of parkland running down to the water. There are 16 individually styled bedrooms in the house, some with four-posters and some looking out over the lake, and Byron’s Brasserie handles the day-to-day dining.
The scale of the place is what surprises people. The Byron Suite takes 200 for a ceremony and 180 for dining; the Lakeside Pavilion, an all-year structure out by the water with its own decking, seats 100 and marries 120; and the Grand Ballroom is on another level again, licensed for up to 500 and seating 350 for the wedding breakfast. Whichever you choose, the parkland and the lake are there for photographs and the city is close enough that guests can find a room easily.
Where the band plays
The Lakeside Pavilion is the obvious choice for live music, because it comes with a stage and a dancefloor already in place and opens onto decking and outdoor seating for anyone who needs air between sets. The Grand Ballroom is the other option and an altogether grander one — a genuine ballroom with the height and the reverberation to match, which flatters a bigger band with brass or strings far more than it does a lone laptop. Live music and discos are both permitted, and the Pavilion can be taken on a dry-hire basis with outside caterers if you want to build the day yourself.
How the evening runs
Receptions here finish at 1am on Saturdays and midnight the rest of the week, so a Saturday wedding has room for two full sets and a proper encore before the lights come up. There’s parking on site, a licensed bar, and the practical advantage of a city-edge location: taxis are quick, the centre is minutes away for anyone carrying on, and guests who are staying over only have to find the stairs.
Bands available in Nottinghamshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Nottinghamshire.
- Wedding Bands in Nottinghamshire
- Events Bands in Nottinghamshire
- Nottinghamshire Tribute Acts
- Nottinghamshire Wedding DJs
- Nottinghamshire Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.