Serpentine: who owns it, who runs it and what the accounts show
The Serpentine Trust has no person with significant control recorded on the Companies House register. In the year to March 2025 it reported turnover of £15m.
- Registered name
- THE SERPENTINE TRUST
- Company number
- 02150221
- Status
- Active
- Incorporated
- 24 July 1987
- Registered office area
- West London
- Industry code on the register
- 85100: Education
- Accounts
- Group accounts, covering the companies it owns
- Accounts type
- Full group accounts
- Latest accounts
- Year to March 2025, filed 27 December 2025
What does Serpentine do?
The Serpentine Trust is the charity that runs Serpentine, two free contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, London. Open since 1970, it shows exhibitions across Serpentine South and Serpentine North and commissions a temporary summer Pavilion from an architect each year, a programme it began in 2000. Admission is free, so most of its income comes from individual donors, corporate supporters, trusts, fundraising events and earned income, with a smaller share from Arts Council England.
In brief: contemporary art charity · two free galleries in Kensington Gardens · annual summer Pavilion · donors and sponsorship
Source: Spark Intel editorial, checked 27 September 2026. Official website: serpentinegalleries.org.
Who owns Serpentine?
The Serpentine Trust, company number 02150221, has no person with significant control recorded on the register. The full record is linked below.
The full ownership record is on the Companies House register. Control is given in the bands the register uses, not as exact shareholdings.
Who runs Serpentine?
The Companies House register lists 15 current officers for The Serpentine Trust.
All 15 current officers
| Officer | Appointed |
|---|---|
| Felicity Ann Waley-Cohen | |
| Barry Townsley | |
| Marcus Jarlath Boyle | 16 December 1993 |
| Weil Secretaries Limited | 10 May 2006 |
| Michael Rubens Bloomberg | 1 January 2014 |
| Jonathan Paul Wood | 26 February 2015 |
| Lynette Yiadom-Boakye | 11 April 2016 |
| Maja Marie Anne Hoffmann | 21 March 2018 |
| Nicoletta Fiorucci | 18 December 2019 |
| Robert Rosenkranz | 18 December 2019 |
| Lady Elena Foster Of Thames Bank | 30 June 2022 |
| Megha Mittal | 19 March 2024 |
| Eugenio Gerardo López Alonso | 8 October 2024 |
| Sosuke Fujimoto | 10 December 2025 |
| Suneil Setiya | 10 December 2025 |
Every current officer, with appointment dates, is on the Companies House register.
What did Serpentine file?
The Serpentine Trust reported turnover of £15m in the year to March 2025. That was up 8.6% on £14m the year before.
It reported 101 employees. The year before it reported 110.
It filed a pre-tax loss of £0.8m for the year, against a pre-tax loss of £1.0m the year before.
Staff costs came to £5m. That is an average of £46,000 a head. It ended the year with £1.6m at the bank and net assets of £10m.
| Measure | Mar 2025 | Mar 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | £15m | £14m |
| Pre-tax profit | -£0.8m (filed) | -£1.0m (filed) |
| Employees | 101 | 110 |
| Staff costs | £5m | £5m |
| Average staff cost per head | £46,000 | £41,000 |
| Bank and cash | £1.6m | £1.9m |
| Net assets | £10m | £11m |
Read the accounts to March 2025 on Companies House, where every set of accounts the company has filed can be downloaded as a PDF.
Are there any charges against Serpentine?
The Serpentine Trust has registered 2 charges at Companies House, of which 1 is still outstanding. A charge is security a lender takes over a company's assets; one is satisfied when the lending behind it is repaid or released.
The outstanding charge
| Charge holder | Created |
|---|---|
| Manhattan West Llc | 19 March 2015 |
Each charge, with its holder and dates, is on the Companies House register.
Serpentine files as The Serpentine Trust, with turnover of £15m in its latest filed year.
Questions about Serpentine
What does Serpentine do?
The Serpentine Trust is the charity that runs Serpentine, two free contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, London. Open since 1970, it shows exhibitions across Serpentine South and Serpentine North and commissions a temporary summer Pavilion from an architect each year, a programme it began in 2000. Admission is free, so most of its income comes from individual donors, corporate supporters, trusts, fundraising events and earned income, with a smaller share from Arts Council England.
Who owns Serpentine?
The Serpentine Trust has no person with significant control recorded at Companies House.
How much does Serpentine make?
The Serpentine Trust reported turnover of £15m in the year to March 2025. It filed a pre-tax loss of £0.8m.
How many people work at Serpentine?
The Serpentine Trust reported 101 employees in the year to March 2025.
Who runs Serpentine?
The Companies House register lists 15 current officers for The Serpentine Trust. The full list, with appointment dates, is on the Companies House register.
- Figures come from The Serpentine Trust's filings at Companies House, company number 02150221, for the period shown at the top of the page.
- These are group accounts: they include the companies it owns.
- Pre-tax profit is the figure the company filed, for both years.
- A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d. A zero in the filing is treated as not disclosed, never as nil.
- Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, from £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, from £2m to the nearest million.
- Ownership is shown in the control bands the register of people with significant control uses, not as exact shareholdings.
- Officers' names and appointment dates come from the Companies House register. Job titles come from the company's own website. The description of what the company does comes from its website, or is marked Spark Intel editorial where it is written from stable, checked facts, with the date either way.
Spark Intel, “Serpentine: who owns it, who runs it and what the accounts show”, updated 28 September 2026. https://www.spark-intel.co.uk/companies/serpentine/. Figures from Companies House filings for THE SERPENTINE TRUST (02150221).
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