Westminster Venue Collection’s Church House Westminster is reporting demand for dinners, award ceremonies and receptions has risen and from May onwards business looks ‘very good’.

However, in a recent ‘view from the coal face’  its general manager, Robin Parker, highlights that corporate meetings and conferences have taken a dip at the beginning of this year.

He says: “I don’t believe it’s a budget issue, I think that corporates are holding off until they have something concrete to talk about. Planning for the future is very difficult, so why waste time and money naval gazing about the future when things could all change. Without stability, decisions have no foundation. Overall, I am optimistic about business whatever happens politically. Despite the slower than budgeted first quarter to 2019, there are enough indicators to suggest that this is a short-term issue and that business will return to more normal levels very soon. This is not a recession, it is just a temporary slowdown while things settle.

“Looking further ahead 2020 is already very good and confirmations are well ahead of previous years at this point. So, don’t panic, hold on tight and ride out this blip, normal service will be resumed!”