- City
- London, United Kingdom
- Address
- 103 Gaunt Street, London SE1 6DP
- Capacity
- About 1,600
- Opened
- 1991
- Status
- Open
- Nearest
- Elephant & Castle (Underground and rail)
- Music
- Garage and house superclub, The Box
Ministry opened on 21 September 1991 in a disused bus garage at 103 Gaunt Street, behind the Elephant & Castle. Justin Berkmann, James Palumbo and Humphrey Waterhouse built it with the sound as the point, taking their cue from American garage clubs, at a time when most of British clubbing still happened in rooms designed for something else. The main room is The Box, and the club holds a 24-hour licence. The brand went on to become a record label and a compilation machine, sold around the world, and it is easy to be snobbish about all that. The room is the reason any of it happened. DJ Mag lists the capacity at 1,600, with the venue's hire brochure giving 1,550. It marked 35 years in 2026 with a promise to rework the look and feel of the place, and it placed 24th in that year's DJ Mag poll. Generations of British house fans have queued on that street.