What do the films The King’s Speech, Superman 3, Batman The Dark Knight and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life have in common? No? Here’s another clue – the answer comes by way of a classic London landmark pictured on the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album, Animals.

The landmark? Battersea Power Station, which served as a setting for scenes in all four films, notably via its multi-dial-panelled operational hub, Control Room A. The nerve centre of the four-chimneyed, former south London powerhouse morphed into a World War II BBC Studio in the Oscar-winning King’s Speech – and now Jeroboams has joined the famous roll call, as we return to the venue for a second time for our much-anticipated September tasting, Jeroboams and the Temple of Power.

The event will see us turn the amp up to eleven for a high-voltage showcase of over 100 wines from our top producers in this historic setting. But beyond the wines, which particular facets of history will surround us on the night?

Battersea Power Station was first conceived in the 1920s by the renowned architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (creator of London’s original red telephone boxes and the St Pancras Hotel and train station, among other notable edifices). Work began in 1929, with Control Room A constructed by 1931. It was here, from this vantage point, that the power station’s directors coordinated the flow of electricity created by the turbines below to power London’s bustling cityscape.

The names on the control room’s intricate panels and dials – Wimbledon, Hampstead, Ealing – bear witness to how this distribution was managed, with the odd anomaly. ‘Carnaby Street 2’ was not, in fact, an extra source for Soho’s extensive nightlife, but a code name for Buckingham Palace, to preserve a certain discretion around the source of power to the royal household (another dial powered the Houses of Parliament).

At its peak, Battersea Power Station supplied a fifth of London’s electricity and was a towering testament to both industrial prowess and architectural grandeur. Spanning two stages of construction (the second part wasn’t completed until the 1950s), it remains one of Europe’s largest brick structures, three times bigger than Bankside Power Station – today’s Tate Modern – which was also designed by Scott, in the 1950s. On its unveiling, the Daily Herald saluted it as ‘a flaming altar of the modern temple of power’. The white vapour from the famous chimneys, which stand 103m high, served as a navigation tool for both the RAF and the German Lufwaffe during World War II (it is for this reason that the Germans chose not to bomb the building – though a belated attempt was made in 1944, a device piercing the roof but failing to detonate).

The site was fully functioning until 1975, designated as grade-II listed in 1980 before finally being decommissioned in 1983. Thereafter it lay dormant for many years, its listed heritage curtailing plans for demolition or transformation into housing. Various grand concepts came and went, a planned leisure complex from the same consortium behind Alton Towers even getting as far, in 1987, as demolishing the roof before finding the internal foundations not as expected and abandoning the project. Eventually, in 2012, a new blueprint for a residential, commercial, and leisure complex was granted, with work starting in 2013, a new northern line underground station link opening in 2021, before the final unveiling, featuring the original brickwork and interior steelwork, in September 2022, almost 50 years after the building was last inhabited.

Amid the extensive retail, hospitality, and entertainment offerings, the restored Control Room A is the jewel in its crown of the redesign, a private event space which stands as a remarkable blend of the engineering brilliance and Art Deco aesthetic of the period. With its wall of levers and dials, the original room was described as ‘the antithesis of digital’ by Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England. There is some irony, then, in the fact that the reimagining saw digital colour-scanning employed to match the room’s original paint palette and 3D printers harnessed to meticulously recreate missing dials and levers. Nonetheless, every aspect reflects that bygone era of craftsmanship and precision, from the original teak parquet flooring and walls clad in grey Italian marble complemented by black Belgian marble accents, to the magnificent, coffered-glass, gold-painted ceiling. Rare indeed is a space that manages to showcase both function and design, its timeless elegance leading Wilson to herald it as a ‘stylistic architectural tour de force’.

A notable feature of Control Room A was the pioneering installation of double glazing, then something of a technological marvel, aimed at minimising noise pollution generated by the Power Station’s operations. Today, a fortunate few can gaze through these historic windows, observing a transformed landscape from a vantage point that stands as a beacon of revitalisation in a dynamic riverside neighbourhood.
Strictly closed to the public, Control Room A is a private event space, and will serve as the venue for our September tasting. We invite you to join us, through the dedicated Directors’ Entrance on the south side of the building, which stands as a suitably grand thoroughfare. Its bronze doors, decorated with original sculptural panels, lead to a splendid Art Deco lobby, from where the original lift will transport you to the light-filled Director’s Bar (also ours for the evening and serving welcome drinks) before guests join the main tasting in Control Room A (adjacent to which, incidentally, lies Control Room B, now transformed into a public cocktail bar).

Allow yourself to be transported back in time for an evening of vinous appreciation and historical discovery, all in one of London’s most electrifying venues. To join the fun, purchase your tickets here.