News Focus
Go West
EN talks to the people behind The Royal Bath and West of
England Society’s Bath and West venue which is seeing a
increase in enquiries
The West Country’s largest venue,
Bath and West, is seeing what it
says is a significant rise in the number
of exhibition enquiries due to the
uncertainty surrounding the UK’s other
national exhibition spaces.
Debbie Howarth, head of commercial
enterprise, the Royal Bath and West
of England Society, the owners of
Bath and West, said: “We’re seeing a
significant rise in enquiries, more than
we normally would at this time of year.
I would encourage event organisers
and planners to consider our site for
rescheduling exhibitions, whether B2B
or B2C, that have a portable business
model while some of the well-known
exhibition centres across the country
are unavailable due to stand by as NHS
Nightingale Hospitals.”
The venue hosts one of the UK’s
“We’ve three
large production
and event
organisers
taking a look at
what we have to
offer”
largest B2C/B2B agricultural events,
the Royal Bath and West Show, and is
also home to the UK Dairy Show and
Grasslands UK.
Rupert Cox, CEO, the Royal Bath &
West of England Society, added: “The
Bath and West Showground is perfectly
placed to host a range of events and
conferences. With the challenges of
social-distancing likely to be with us for
some months we have the facilities to
cater for larger outdoor events as well
as exhibitions and conferences away
from densely populated cities and in an
open and healthy rural environment.”
Set in the heart of the South West, the
240-acre site is in close proximity to
both Bristol and Bath, together with the
M3, A303 and M5 corridors, and three
miles from the London-Penzance line
on the Great Western Railway.
Howarth explained that if the venue is
allowed to run events in the second half
of 2020, much of the venue is booked
up at the weekends, but there is still
some availability for the odd weekend
and for events to run during the week.
She added: “Like many other venues,
we’ve lost all events in Q3 because
organisers are finding it difficult to plan
with such uncertainty around the ‘mass
gatherings’ directive. If restrictions
do lift, we will have a busy Q4, but it
is too early to call. However, in such
uncertain times we try to remain
optimistic for our own site and the
whole of the events industry.
“We are starting to see a rise in the
number of enquiries for shows that are
normally hosted at other venues. In
the past month we have had three large
production and event organisers taking
a look at what we have to offer, and we
are in negotiations with two of these to
bring their events to us.
“This has been an incredibly tough
time for everyone in our industry
and we are doing everything we can
to support any organiser that needs
some certainty and wants to have
time to plan their event. Our venue is
going through an incredibly exciting
10 — June