JUNE | COVER FEATURE |
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“ VE day, for example, and this year’ s Centenary of RAF on 12 July. The latter will be a huge celebration and will feature one of the biggest fly pasts ever.”
Regents Park also comes with its own unique challenges, with residents situated very close by, necessitating strict restrictions on live music. Richmond Park, meanwhile, has deer and areas of scientific special interest.
“ The events in the parks really have a significant impact on London‘ s economy, and people come from overseas. Around 3.4m people attend, and these people use the local transport, hotels, and eat out and that’ s true for sports events and concerts too,” says Mainwaring.
The Parks generate around 70 % of their own income, and 40 % of that comes from events. The rest is made up from catering, licenses, and the rental of a series of park buildings.
Meanwhile, as a charity, estates are often left to the Parks.
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Above: The legendary Great Oak Stage
“ I can’ t turn around and say‘ by the way I’ ll put in another concert’. We must work to the dedicated event strategy”
– Alun Mainwaring
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“ But it’ s not just the economy. People’ s lives are improved buy these events,” adds Mainwairing,“ That’ s why we always have nice price point, and a family offering to give a public aspect to the events. We try to attract people to parks who might not come here. Winter Wonderland is a good example of this.
“ However, it’ s clear that the economic impact message is not getting out. More needs to be done to publicise how valuable events are.”
Given that the Parks are restricted in terms of numbers, the team has to do more to make the events it does run more profitable.
” I can’ t turn around and say‘ by the way I’ ll put in another concert’. We must work to the event strategy. This means we must think creatively to get more commercial income but not from having more actual events.”
One area the team looks at is introducing more highend experiences.“ We look at where we can improve on each event afterwards, in addition to the operational issues. In terms of the commerciality, there’ s
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always creative ways of doing that. It’ s about improving what we have on site, the scope of the tender.“ I think it’ s taken a while but the mid week is a success story, incredible catering, free cinema, Major League Baseball, activations, attractions, and low level music are good fun, and not so intrusive. People are free to walk in, and enjoy the park, and summer in London with high quality attractions. Improved commerciality of the event is also important, and all the caterers and bars are working which drives revenue.
“ We always look at what the other parks in London are up to. We work with Steve Edwards( see boxout) who’ s been here for 40 years. He’ s seen it all.”
One area that has gained an increase in budgeting allocation is crowd management.“ All our events have security sub groups, including the Metropolitan Police. All parties are aware vehicle barriers, closed roads, and the various routes in and out of the park. Importantly though, we make sure the rest of the park is working as it should do.”
Whether you’ re royalty, a Rolling Stones or a weekend wanderer, the Parks’ events strategy is designed around you.
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