Why couples choose Camden Town Hall

Camden Town Hall was built as St Pancras Town Hall. Albert Thomas designed it, work started in 1934 and it opened in October 1937. It took the Camden name in 1965, when St Pancras, Hampstead and Holborn merged into one borough.

It is a steel frame clad in Portland stone, with Corinthian columns across the front, and it is Grade II listed. Camden closed it in 2020 for a full restoration and brought ceremonies back in 2023, so the rooms are freshly done.

Couples choose it for the location as much as the building. You walk out of the Judd Street doors and St Pancras is right there: the red brick, the Gothic arches, the clock tower. Very few register offices in London give you a backdrop like that a minute from the ceremony room.

It is also the easiest register office in London for guests to reach. King's Cross St Pancras is two minutes away, with six Underground lines, Eurostar, and trains in from the north and the Midlands.

What the ceremony is actually like

Camden says to allow about half an hour. Readings, vows, rings if you want them, the signing, the kiss, applause. Rings are optional, as they are not a legal requirement.

Photography is allowed all the way through, as long as it is not disruptive. That suits how I work anyway. No flash in your face during the vows, no walking up the aisle mid-ceremony. I pick my spots before you come in and stay there.

Then it is out to the Marble Staircase or the front of the building for groups, and across the road to St Pancras if you want portraits there. The whole thing moves quickly, which is why it helps to have a photographer who already knows the routine of a London register office.

Witnesses, parking and paperwork

Not strictly my department, but couples ask me all the time, so here is what Camden's own guidance says.

• Two witnessesThey must speak and understand English and follow the ceremony. No ID needed. There is no minimum age, but if in doubt bring an extra adult.
• Getting thereThe entrance is on Judd Street, opposite the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. King's Cross St Pancras is the nearest station, and buses 30, 73, 91, 205 and 390 stop outside St Pancras International.
• Parking permitsCamden gives up to five free parking permits for a ceremony, applied for through the council. Otherwise the nearest car parks are the NCPs on Judd Street and at the Brunswick Centre.
• Music and readingsMusic cannot have religious content, which is a legal rule for civil ceremonies. You can play it from a phone or tablet over Bluetooth.
• ConfettiCamden's ceremony guide does not spell out confetti rules, so ask when you book. Wherever it is allowed, bring biodegradable petals and more than you think you need. A thin scattering barely shows in a photograph.
• Giving noticeYou both give notice at your local register office first, then there is a 28-day waiting period in England and Wales. Your certificate is posted to you within 14 working days of the wedding.

Wedding portraits near Camden Town Hall

This is the big advantage of marrying at Camden. Some of the most photogenic architecture in London is across the road, and King's Cross and Bloomsbury are a short walk either way. Walking times are from the Judd Street entrance.

• St Pancras archesOne minute, across Euston Road. The red-brick Gothic arcade of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, the lanterns, and the clock tower above. My first choice for a register office portrait anywhere in London.
• Inside St Pancras stationTwo or three minutes. The great iron and glass roof of the Barlow Shed, and The Meeting Place, the nine-metre bronze couple under the clock. Busy, so we work quickly.
• The British LibraryAbout three minutes west along Euston Road. Red brick, a wide open piazza and clean lines, and much quieter than the station.
• Bloomsbury squaresBrunswick Square Gardens is about five minutes south, Russell Square about ten. Trees, Georgian terraces and green space if you would rather have leaves than brick.
• Granary Square & Coal Drops YardAbout ten minutes north. Fountains, the canal steps and restored Victorian brick at King's Cross, with Regent's Canal just beyond.
• Lamb's Conduit StreetAbout ten minutes. A pedestrian Georgian street of independent shops and old pubs, and a lovely walk with your guests.

Your Camden Town Hall wedding photographer

I am Barrie Downie, a London documentary wedding photographer with more than 20 years and 500 weddings behind me.

I observe and react rather than direct, so your photographs are a record of what actually happened. Register office weddings are a big part of what I do: more than thirty at Old Marylebone, twenty at Chelsea, ten at Islington, and weddings here at Camden and across the road at St Pancras.

I recommend a short pre-wedding shoot to anyone nervous about the camera. An hour around King's Cross or the canal and you will know exactly how I work by the day itself.

Whether it is the two of you and two witnesses on the Marble Staircase or 160 guests in the Council Chamber, I am happy to talk it through.