Tag: westminster venue

Central Hall Westminster hosts ‘The Superpowers of Free School Meals’ conference

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Central Hall Westminster, part of Central Hall Venues group, played host to The Superpowers of Free School Meals conference, a joint initiative to showcase the benefits of England’s Free School Meals policy, on Tuesday 8th November.

Hosted by Leyla Kazim, BBC Radio 4’s presenter of the Food Programme, the event highlighted the positive effect of the policy from academic attainment to school attendance. The event was held during National School Meals Week by the ‘Feed the Future’ campaign coalition including The Food Foundation, Chefs in Schools, Sustain, Child Poverty Action Group, School Food Matters, National Education Union, Bite Back 2030 and Impact on Urban Health. The campaign is run in partnership with the Independent and in association with the Evening Standard.

Held in the Aldersgate Room and attended by over 150 people, it began with a ‘school lunch’ served up by top chefs Tom Kerridge and Melissa Hemsley. Attendees were given a chance to meet people who have benefited from Free School Meals and young campaigners advocating the advantages of a healthy diet on their long-term well-being and development.

Following lunch, a panel session chaired by Laura Sandys, CBE, Founder of the Food Foundation, discussed how good school food can become a priority for all political parties. A second session chaired by Xand van Tulleken, Doctor and TV presenter, debated the many benefits of Free School Meals. There was also a spoken word performance carried out by youth campaigners and a closing session on the emerging vision and future priorities for a better school food system.

Sarah Ainsworth, CEO of Central Hall Venues, commented: “We were delighted to host The Superpowers of Free School Meals conference at our venue during National School Meals Week and see the wide range of discussions on this important topic. As an organisation which exists purely to maintain our historic buildings such as Central Hall Westminster and donate to charitable causes, we love to host events that align with our values.”

Find out more about the wonderful Central Hall Westminster here.

IET London: Savoy Place shortlisted for double London Venue Awards accolade

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IET London: Savoy Place has been shortlisted for both Best Venue Customer Service and Best Venue for Hybrid Events in the London Venue Awards 2022.

Amid recognition of outstanding customer service, the venue has been celebrating the loyalty of its staff, with four of the senior team having dedicated over a decade of service to the IET and its clients. Due to the consistency and expertise offered at Savoy Place, the venue has had over 60% repeat bookers for events over the past 12 months.

Savoy Place’s modern conference facilities with robust IT infrastructure have allowed it to facilitate filming and streaming to multiple rooms. Additional hybrid filming and streaming services supplied to commercial clients by in-house AV specialists, IET.tv, are on track to grow in value by 300% for 2022, compared to 2021.

As the IET’s central London event venue, the building is well used by science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) businesses as well as clients from broader industries championing CSR because of its sustainability credentials, including its most recent Greengage Platinum ECOsmart accreditation. With many high-profile visitors and events, Savoy Place is proficient in client privacy, NDA content and full-service packages to provide security. The venue’s Operations Manager also has House of Commons security experience.

On being shortlisted, Sean Spencer, Head of IET Venues and Facilities said: “It’s brilliant recognition of the hard work the team has put in over the past 12 months to constantly adapt our client offering while continuing to deliver above and beyond when it comes to customer service. We’ve worked hard to develop a strong culture and thorough training scheme, educating staff on the importance of exceptional operational standards.

“Congratulations to the entire Savoy Place team for being recognised in two categories that highlight both technical prowess and outstanding delivery.”

Explore Savoy Place’s hybrid facilities to find out more about hosting your next event here.

Regent’s Conferences & Events reports record summer of outdoor events

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Regent’s Conferences & Events has reported its most successful summer of outdoor events in a record breaking few months.

The central London based events venue has seen an all-time high of both guest numbers and average spend per head. Welcoming over 10,000 guests to the lawns between May and July, firms and private planners forked out an average of £137 per guest – a 40% increase in guests on pre-pandemic levels.

With only very minor F&B rate increases for 2022, the surging average spend is largely attributed to companies wanting to reward staff and individuals hoping to ‘make up for lost time’, putting extra spend behind their events.

An average of six lawn functions per week across an 11-week period has been in addition to the regular indoor event operation, with weekend clients using over 30 classrooms and 50 weekday classrooms for language schools, training events and meetings.

The venue was virtually booked out by April, but even after inevitable COVID dropouts, rail strikes and cancellations, it still saw 90% occupancy – 30% above target.

Regent’s has observed an increasing preference for savoury treats over sweet, with the crispy fried chicken burger eclipsing the former winner – the classic BBQ beef burger. With 80% of all outdoor guests opting for barbecued catering and 50% having a street food stall option too, the Taste of Greece menu and Italian Pizzeria were next on the popularity list.

Summer party entertainment trends have seen a shift from competitive sporting activities to more holistic wellbeing activities and interactive drink experiences like cocktail making.

Regent’s’ External Events Manager, Rafael Azzopardi said: “This summer has been quite remarkable for outdoor business. We knew we were in a fortunate position throughout the pandemic to offer such vast outdoor space for events, but even we didn’t foresee such demand continuing at this scale. The desire to celebrate, paired with the uncharacteristically brilliant British weather we have had has made for an unforgettable summer.

“The events team have been stretched like never before, delivering exceptional service through temperatures reaching 40 degrees and the catering team has continued to respond to demand and update its innovative offering. The searing heat boosted the popularity of ice cream as the most popular dessert, serving over 7,000 ice creams! Half the event planners have opted for two food servings per event and more cocktails per guest than we’ve ever seen before.”

Located within private gardens in Regent’s Park, the venue offers four acres of landscaped lawns for summer events of up to 1,200 guests, with a sheltered marquee available from May to September.

 

If you’d like to enquire about booking Regent’s Conferences & Events for your summer 2023 event, contact us at [email protected]

 

To find out more about their indoor meeting and function facilities, head to their page.