Friends House

Over the past few weeks, we've welcomed three unique, independent and diverse venues into the Venues of Excellence family... As the UK’s leading sales and marketing consortium, new members Center Parcs Conferences & Events and Friends House joined our consortium as a natural partner to support their businesses. 🤝 Quality and excellence are key factors for us when auditing potential new members, and our newcomers underpin exactly that! Center Parcs have extensive facilities across their two exceptional conference and events venues; Sherwood Forest and Woburn Forest, providing unique experiences for delegates and a host of teambuilding activities that are second to none. 🌳 🗣️ Julia Green 🍃, Sales and Commercial Manager at Center Parcs Conference and Events commented: “We are thrilled to join the Venues of Excellence consortium, a partnership that reflects our commitment to delivering fantastic event experiences.” Central London venue Friends House is perfectly located for conference and event organisers planning to host events in the Kings Cross, Euston and Bloomsbury areas of the capital, with 35 fantastic meeting rooms and conference facilities for up to 1,000 delegates. 🏙️ 🗣️ Eamonn Cole, Head of Operations at Quiet Company said: “It is a huge privilege for Friends House to have been taken into membership of Venues of Excellence. The consortium does very much encapsulate many of the very best conference and meeting venues in the country." Swipe to read more on what our new members had to say upon joining. 👉 In welcoming our new members, our CEO Mandy commented: “We are continuously on the look out for 'best in class' conference and event specialist venues, who match our values and ethos, plus who we know will fit our fantastic community of operators who have a passion for our wonderful industry. It is a pleasure to welcome Center Parcs and Friends House to our collection of excellent venues and we cannot wait to tell our customers all about these amazing locations and just how proud we are to represent them.” Venues of Excellence now offers collectively within the membership: 📍 53 venues 🤝 1200 meeting rooms 🛏️ 10,500+ bedrooms Conference and event planners, if you choose to use our free Venue Finding Service, you can be confident that our team will find the right solution and venue to host your event each and every time! Enquire about our excellent venues here: https://lnkd.in/dqFWyRvp #VenuesOfExcellence #CenterParcs #FriendsHouse #LondonVenue #TeamBuilding #EventProfs #VenueFinder

You know how Colonel Sanders has a secret recipe chicken coating? And some family recipes are kept secret and only willed to the next generation? Well, Venue Finders have a Secret Source! (see what I did there?) In the venue finding part of what I do, I have access to thousands of venues across the UK (and then there’s Europe and the rest of the world where I know thousands more). And yet!! I’m still being introduced to venues and hidden gems that are new to me. Take Friday as an example. I met 5 venues, previously unknown to me (6 if you include Buckingham Palace, but that’s another story!) – so how did I find out about them? I was invited down to London for lunch with one representation company and then on to dinner with another. Representation Companies work with agencies like Events Simplified as a single point of contact, or conduit, to hundreds of venues, which really extends what I am able to find for your event. As there are 5 new London venues, I’m going to showcase one each day this week, and if you want to know about the other 60+ just in these two portfolios alone, we should set up a call and I can share them with you! Today’s venue is The Victory Services Club. So versatile and wonderfully accessible and I would like to thank Jo da Silva for inviting me and Joanna Lunn for telling me everything the VSC has to offer. Let me bore you with facts for a moment! BS 8300:2009, in relation to hotel premises, specifies that accessible rooms should cater for a wide range of disabled people and sets out the following requirements: ·     5% of all rooms to be wheelchair accessible ·     5% of rooms to be fitted with a fixed tracked-hoist system or similar system giving the same degree of comfort and safety ·     5% of rooms to be capable of being adapted in the future to accessibility standards. So, if a venue has 60 bedrooms, best practice guidance as laid down in BS 8300:2009 says that venue should have 3 bedrooms that are accessible as above. The Victory Services Club has 10! They are also in the throes of fitting the latest available hoists; they have lifts specifically designed to support mobility-reduced and wheelchair users so they can access all floors from street level, including access to all the meeting rooms. The photo is Carisbrooke Hall. With a stage for entertainment built in, there is still space for around 80 people on table rounds and a private bar under the mezzanine which makes an impressive space for a reception drink before dinner. And the rates? Incredible value! If you are an ex-serving member of the armed forces, membership of the VSC means you get massive discounts on standard prices (and even they beat most London rates hands down!) You’re looking for a venue for your next event – how do you go about finding the best place when there are so many hidden gems out there still waiting to be found? My recommendation? Give me a call!