Located in the popular North Yorkshire town of Harrogate, this venue is known for its agricultural heritage. However, the site is also home to an impressive lineup of purpose built buildings designed to house varying types of event. Exhibition Industry News turned the spotlight on them to find out more….
Venue Name: Yorkshire Event Centre (YEC)
Venue Type: Purpose built venue
Venue Contact Name: Richard Moorhouse, Venue Manager
Venue Website: www.eventcentre.co.uk
Describe the facilities available for both event and exhibition organisers?
We’ve got two linked exhibition halls offering 5,372m2 of space, surrounded by 250 acres of grounds, meaning we can accommodate indoor and outdoor events with ease. We are located on the outskirts of Harrogate with easy access to excellent hotels and restaurants. We have extensive onsite parking, all of which is free of charge, and everything is on one level, which means easy access for visitors and exhibitors.
What unique selling points does your venue have?
The YEC is the only venue to have ‘Yorkshire’ in its name, so we like to follow this through with a good old Yorkshire welcome. We offer great value, a friendly service and an ability to make things happen.
10% of the UK’s population lives in Yorkshire, with 6 million people living within an hour’s drive of the YEC. This gives event organisers huge visitor potential.
As a venue, all the profits we make go to support the work of the registered charity the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.
Tell us about some of the events that have taken place in the venue.
We welcome thousands of people every year to a wide range of events. We hold large public exhibitions, trade shows, conferences, auctions and private dinners.
The Spring Flower Show takes place in April and will attract approximately 65,000 visitors over four days. The organisers use all 5,372m2 of our indoor event space, supplemented with marquees and outside trade stands, giving a total event area of approx 10,000m². We park approx 4,000 cars and 50 coaches per day during this event.
The Ice Cream Expo, a dedicated trade show about the wonderful subject of ice cream, showcases everything from ice cream cones to ice cream vans. This show is hugely successful and has been hosted at the YEC for six years.
We host a number of conferences, the largest of which had 1,400 delegates (and the very lovely Bill Clinton!) but anything over 300 delegates works well here. A national retailer held a conference for their suppliers, alongside huge product displays and a hearty lunch.
As well as conferences, we host a number of spectacular dinners, usually for private or corporate clients. One client held a ‘Carrot Themed’ event complete with carrot candles, a tractor and carrot décor – after dinner each guest found a pair of wellies under their table to put on and party outside in teepee’s. A great night!
Each year we host the Bonham’s Automobilia Auction, with this year’s sale showcasing over 470 motor cars, motorcycles and automobilia, with the lots selling for a combined total of £1.1.million. Given the success of the auction, the event moved from Hall 2 into Hall 1, our largest indoor event space.
How has the venue developed in the last 5 years?
The halls are constantly being upgraded and maintained, as are our grounds, to ensure that we are the best we can be.
We strongly believe in supporting the environment. Our most recent building has 22 sustainable features from the timber frame to the ground source heat pump. Solar panels have been installed on the roof of one of our buildings, which generates 10% of the sites power.
We are a member of the Association of Event Venues (AEV), which means we contribute to their ‘eGuide’ and play an active role in the AEV sustainability group.
Using fresh locally sourced produce in our Yorkshire themed menus was introduced in 2012 to promote the range of fantastic food available in the region and support local suppliers. The new menu options offer a greater variety of dishes to visitors at competitive prices. The café is fortunate to offer a large window overlooking the Crimple Valley and the café area has been revamped and rebranded to improve its appeal to visitors.
Are there any plans to develop the venue over the next 5 years?
We have a continual programme of renewing and updating our facilities. We have just completed a new café called The Yorkshire Café, showcasing the best of local food and drink. We have exciting plans for the future but we are not quite ready to announce them just yet, but watch this space!
What strategies does the venue employ to support events taking place within it?
We work closely with our clients before their events to help them with event promotions. This includes information and guidance on the local media, event details on websites and via our social media streams and monthly newsletters, as well as any other bespoke support that a client may need.
We include several extras to our customer’s tenancies to ensure events run smoothly. Directional signage, traffic management staff and toilet attendants are just a few of the elements included and we are fortunate to have furniture and equipment available to hire if required.
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