Regent Street Candle Making Workshop: £55 at Earl of East

Earl of East teaches its Beginners Candle Making Workshop inside its Regent Street store at Unit 2, Quadrant Arcade, London W1B 5RL, a few steps from Piccadilly Circus station. A seat costs £55, the session lasts roughly 60 minutes, and you walk out with a 170ml soy wax candle scented with a blend you built yourself. Open classes hold eight guests at most, so anyone searching for a candle making workshop in central London should book a date first and plan the rest of the afternoon around it.

Niko Dafkos and Paul Firmin founded Earl of East in 2014, and the brand's own history page traces its early days to the markets of East London, starting at Netil Market in Hackney. The pair went on to publish a book called Scented Candle Workshop in 2019, and the label is now stocked by more than 300 retailers around the world, Liberty, Selfridges and END among them. The workshop collection page says the team has hosted candle making workshops for over ten years, which explains how polished the hour feels.

The Regent Street shop sits in Quadrant Arcade, the covered passage that cuts through the curved Quadrant section of Regent Street near Air Street. The store doubles as the classroom, and its open classes are capped at eight guests. Arrive a few minutes early and smell some of the finished Earl of East candles on display, which gives you a reference point before you decide what direction your own blend should take.

The class is pitched at total beginners, and Earl of East states that no previous experience is needed. One of the brand's makers walks the group through the basics of wax, wicks and fragrance, then turns everyone loose on a blending exercise. You sniff a set of fragrance oils, choose the ones that suit you, and mix a bespoke scent before pouring it into soy wax. The vessel holds 170ml, a sensible size for a bedside table or a small bathroom shelf.

A detail regulars like: when you book, the shop asks you to choose a candle name and scent direction so a custom label can be prepared in advance. That means the finished jar leaves the arcade looking like a product rather than a school project. With only eight people at the table, the maker can stop at each station, so nobody is left guessing whether their pour temperature or wick placement is right.

Read the terms before you click buy, because they are strict. Workshop bookings are non-refundable. If you need to move to another date, Earl of East asks for at least seven working days of notice. Arrive on time: the FAQ says late guests are accepted up to about 10 to 15 minutes after the start, after which the class has moved on to blending and you will struggle to catch up. The company also notes that the public classes usually run at Regent Street but the location can occasionally change, so read your confirmation email the day before.

Children aged 12 and over are welcome when an adult is also booked into the same class, which makes this one of the easier central London candle sessions for a parent and teenager. Groups wanting the room to themselves can arrange a private workshop by emailing support@earlofeast.com. Private sessions can be hosted in the Regent Street store or taken off-site to an office or event space.

The most common mistake in a blending class is chasing whatever smells exciting in the bottle. Fragrance oils read stronger on a paper strip than they do once a candle has been burning for an hour in a living room. Before the session, spend five minutes on the store shelves and note which of the finished Earl of East candles you actually enjoy. Use that as an anchor, then add one oil that pushes it in your own direction rather than stacking five loud notes together.

Think about the room the candle will live in. A woody or smoky blend suits a lounge in winter, while something green or citrusy works better in a kitchen or bathroom. If you are buying the class as a gift, the shop sells workshop places online, so the recipient chooses a date and still gets to name their own candle. Keep in mind that the class is only an hour, which means decisions come fast. Arriving with a rough idea saves time for the fun part, which is the pour.

The hour-long format suits a low-key date, a birthday with one or two friends, or a solo treat between errands. Because the arcade sits between Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, it slots easily between West End shopping and an early dinner in Soho, and the 12-plus age rule means a parent and teenager can book together. An honest verdict: if you want a long, technical session on wax chemistry, this is not it. It is a short, well-run introduction, and the value is in the blending and the finished 170ml jar rather than deep technique.

Leave the arcade on the Regent Street side and you are already on one of London's grandest curves, the colonnaded Quadrant that sweeps up from Piccadilly Circus. Turn into Air Street and Glasshouse Street to reach Golden Square, a quiet Georgian square that most shoppers miss. From there it is a short stroll to Carnaby Street and its side lanes. Head north up Regent Street instead and you reach Great Marlborough Street and the mock-Tudor Liberty building, one of the stores that stocks Earl of East candles, so you can compare your blend with the ones on the shelf.

If you would rather walk south, cross Piccadilly to Jermyn Street, where shirt makers, cheesemongers and old perfumers trade in one long line. That makes a neat follow-up to an hour of fragrance work. The walk from the arcade to Jermyn Street takes under five minutes, and Green Park is just beyond it if the weather is kind and you want to sit down with your new candle in its bag.

Classes cap at eight and weekend dates go quickly, especially in the run-up to Christmas. If nothing suits, Earl of East also runs stores at Coal Drops Yard in King's Cross, on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch and on Market Street in Spitalfields, where you can at least buy the house candles. For another hands-on option in the West End, independent maker STANZA Artigiana runs evening candle classes inside the Cafe Jamie Oliver at John Lewis on Oxford Street. A rainy day is not a problem for the Earl of East class itself, since Quadrant Arcade is covered from end to end.

Address: Earl of East Regent Street, Unit 2, Quadrant Arcade, London W1B 5RL. The nearest Underground station is Piccadilly Circus on the Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines. Price: £55 per person for the Beginners Candle Making Workshop, which lasts approximately 60 minutes and includes a 170ml soy wax candle with your own fragrance blend. Capacity is eight guests per open class, and children aged 12 and over can join with a booked adult. Bookings are non-refundable, date changes need seven working days of notice, and the shop does not publish a phone line, so questions go to support@earlofeast.com. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a nearby dinner spot once your candle is wrapped.