Unprofessional, racially profiled us - people of colour do not go here
I would strongly advise anyone, especially people of color, to avoid Beaufort House Chelsea after the appalling experience we had when planning to host our 30th birthday there. Our experience was marred by unprofessionalism, racial profiling, and poor communication.
We contacted the venue two months in advance, on September 10th, about hosting a private dinner for 180 guests. Initially, communication with Augusta and Anelise was positive; we organized the menu, discussed logistics, and paid a deposit. We even sent out invitations to our guests on October 1st. However, despite these preparations, we were never provided with a receipt or contract to confirm our agreement.
Soon after, communication began to deteriorate. The venue’s team suddenly demanded thousands of pounds upfront, claiming it was because “they hadn’t done business with us before”—this wasn’t part of our original agreement and felt suspiciously like racial profiling. They even threatened to cancel our event if we didn’t pay approximately 8,500 four weeks before the date.
Eventually, they canceled our event, claiming we had “money issues.” To make matters worse, we discovered they had poorly thought about the logistics of us hiring the venue and suggested we move our event to a later date instead. We had to physically visit the venue before we got a decent explanation. The director, Simon Oldham, added to the discrimination by stereotyping us, expressing concern over “drill music” being played at our event.
Finally, they failed to return our deposit within the agreed time frame, and we had to chase them for it before they finally returned it, even though they cancelled our booking.
The entire experience has been deeply disappointing and non-inclusive. I would not recommend Beaufort House Chelsea to anyone, especially people of color, as their behavior has been nothing short of discriminatory.