Coach House Stretch Tent FAQs
Orleans House Gallery has submitted a planning application to have a stretch tent in part of the Stables courtyard from May – September, starting in 2022.
Where will the stretch tent go?
A 11x10m stretch tent will go directly in front of the Coach House within the Stables courtyard. The tent will take up one quarter of the Stable’s courtyard.
What is the stretch tent for?
We have hosted private hire events for a number of years in the Gallery and Coach House. These have included weddings. There has never been a restriction on the number and size of these events, however we have kept the Coach House capacity to 60 to allow for space for a seated dinner as well as an area for a standing reception. The Coach House is also used daily for arts programming and activities.
The tent will allow us to maintain existing capacity in the Coach House whilst accommodating for social distancing for both our private hires and arts programming. It will also enable us to comfortably manage events for around 100 people when we hope guidelines and attitudes to social distancing relax in the coming years.
How will the stretch tent be used for private hires?
The stretch tent allows for a slight overspill of tables from inside the coach house, however the majority of the stretch tent will be used for a standing area before the dinner, and as an area for guests to congregate in whilst the tables are removed in the Coach House after the seated meal. Most of the private hire footprint will remain inside the Coach House.
Why do you need it in place for five months and how often will it be used?
The majority of our private hires and arts activities take place over the summer months, and during school holidays.
We already successfully hold evening events in the Coach House, however we have planned to limit evening hires that use both the Coach House and stretch tent to a maximum of 12 in the first year (May – Sept 2022). We have limited this to 12 as our focus is on arts programming and ensuring minimal disruption to residents. This would mean 12 evening hires with the stretch tent included across a five–month summer period. We will endeavour to spread the 12 hires across the five–month period, however if one week proved particularly popular, there would never be more than two of these hires in one week.
Will this affect my experience when visiting the Stables café?
The Stables café already has a licence to have customers sit outside in the courtyard, and they currently use two large umbrellas as wet weather cover. When the coach house is not in use for arts programming during the day, the café will be permitted to put their seating under the tent if they wish to, as this provides a better wet weather cover than the two large umbrellas. The café would not be permitted more seating than what they already have in place in the courtyard.
Will this lead to increased deliveries to Orleans House Gallery?
We are very aware of the impact large trucks have on the roads into Orleans House Gallery. For this reason, all private hires of the Coach House, using the tent or not, can only use our onsite caterers, The Stables Café. The café already has a commercial kitchen in the courtyard with established daily deliveries.
We also already own tables and chairs which are kept onsite. We do not foresee any reason to need access via the barriers on Riverside Road.
Will this lead to events with loud music?
Live amplified bands are not permitted in the Coach House and this will not change. Recorded music will continue to be allowed to play; however, we will keep with our current policy that only the Coach House built in sound system can be used, allowing us to control the sound levels.
We are hoping to install the stretch tent for one weekend this summer to allow us to test out the sound system with the Coach House doors open into the tent. We will conduct decibel readings to confirm what the correct sound level should be whilst the doors are open. We have always intended to consult residents in this process.
As is standard for venues, we will ensure the doors to the Coach House are closed, and all guests are inside by 10pm. Private hires inside the Coach House will never go later than 11pm.
Will this lead to lots of people leaving late at night?
We have officially changed the post code of Orleans House Gallery, which means all navigation apps now correctly direct visitors down Orleans Road into our car park.
We are a unique venue in the borough because we have a dedicated driveway and car park. We have factored into the private hires two traffic management and security guards who will always work on hires of both the Coach House and tent. In the evening for the 12 hires, our car park will be used as a taxi collection point, which will be managed by the traffic management team. This will ensure guests leaving by their own transport, or by taxi, do so quietly with no congestion on Orleans Road.