Here at Absolute Venues, our free venue-finding service encompasses numerous locations across the UK, Europe and worldwide. But there’s one city in particular that we want to highlight as a prime location to host your corporate event—and that’s London.
As one of the world’s leading commercial, cultural and tourist destinations, London is a city primed for hosting events—and we’re not just talking about the Olympics. Whether you’re hosting a small-scale business meeting or a high-capacity conference, the English capital offers a wide selection of superb venues that will satisfy every specific requirement of your event.
Beyond the long list of locations available to you, London boasts a bevy of benefits that you won’t find anywhere else in the UK. Between its excellent public transport links, enormous population (which is especially valuable if you’re hosting an open-attendance event) and iconic views and attractions, hosting your event in London will make it one to remember for all parties involved.
Of course, securing a venue in London isn’t easy. Competition is high, venues get booked quickly and with so many locations to choose from, it can be hard to know where to begin.
Thankfully, that’s where Absolute Venues come in. Our expert and experienced team will handle all the leg work for you. After a thorough sourcing process, your dedicated event planner will present you with a shortlist of the most suitable venues in London according to your brief and budget. If you also require accommodation, we’ll find you the best hotel options as part of our free service.
With strong connections to thousands of independent venues and hotel groups throughout the city, we can offer you a preferential discounted rate on various locations, so hosting your event in London doesn’t have to mean paying “London prices.”
Click here to find the perfect venue for your event today.
So, what makes London great for hosting events?
An unrivalled choice of venues
As the nation’s capital, London boasts a vast array of venues that you won’t find anywhere else in England or the UK.
If you’re looking to host a high-capacity event like a product launch or road show, the city offers a wide selection of large and spacious venues that can accommodate your every need. If it’s a smaller-scale event like a business meeting or team building session that you’re coming to us for, there are plenty of more intimate and suitably-sized settings for us to scout. Whatever your event, London boasts some of the most unique, most flexible and most exceptional venues in the world.
Beyond a venue’s size, capacity and facilities, finding the right atmosphere to suit your event can be equally as important. Thankfully, London has never been lacking in this area. From hip neighbourhoods like Shoreditch and Camden to swanky districts like Mayfair and Chelsea, the city’s 33 boroughs possess their own unique character, giving you plenty of choice. When it comes to the venues themselves, you can be sure to find everything from the glitzy and glamorous to the sleek and modern, as well as the historic and prestigious to the cool and quirky.
If you require accommodation as part of your event package, there’s no shortage of hotels in and around London for us to book for you (for free, of course), whatever your budget.
Excellent public transport
From the Tube and trains to buses and planes, getting around London isn’t as daunting as you might think. In fact, it’s relatively easy!
Perhaps the most efficient and cost-effective mode of transport is the world-famous London Underground (aka “the Tube”). With a network of 11 lines serving 270 stations—most of which are within walking distance of each other—the Tube provides traffic-free travel throughout the city and its outlying areas. Services generally run between 5am and midnight, Monday to Saturday, with reduced operating hours on Sunday. It’s worth visiting the Transport for London website to plan your journey in advance, and be sure to use an Oyster card, Travelcard or contactless payment so you get the best fare prices.
London’s equally iconic red buses are also a convenient way of getting around, with a few added perks. For starters, they’re cheaper than the Tube; a single journey costs £1.50 no matter how far you travel, and the “Hopper” scheme means you can make unlimited bus trips for free within the first hour of your journey. Bus services run 24 hours a day throughout the city, making it an especially convenient option if you happen to be staying out late. Plus, they offer plenty of sightseeing opportunities. London buses are card only, however, so make sure you have an Oyster Card, Travelcard or contactless payment card before boarding.
Of course, you can still hail one of London’s trademark black cabs to get to where you need to be. Or for the more technologically savvy, there’s no shortage of Ubers or Lyfts throughout the city either.
If you or your delegates are travelling into London from elsewhere in the UK, there’s a vast rail network that includes centrally-located train stations like Kings Cross, St. Pancras and Waterloo. For those flying in from overseas, major airports like Heathrow and Gatwick are located nearby and provide express rail services into the city. Should you be driving, London is reachable via the multitude of motorways and A-roads that connect to the city’s M25 orbital motorway (driving through Central London itself is less than ideal, though).
What’s more, if you decide that you want to view your shortlist of venues in person, travelling between locations—no matter how far apart—will be one less headache thanks to London’s excellent public transport system.
A huge pool of potential customers
If you’re looking to attract as many people as possible to your event, whether it be a product launch, road show or networking event, London is the perfect place to host it. By far the largest city in the UK, the Greater London area boasts a population of approximately 8.9 million, dwarfing second-place Birmingham’s current figure of 1.2 million. That’s in addition to the 19 million-plus international tourists who flocked to the city last year alone, and spent £12.3 billion in the process.
As one of the world’s most prominent business and trading centers, nowhere else in the UK will you have access to such a huge and diverse audience. Whatever your brand, product or service, London promises to provide a plethora of potential customers, clients and investors, and make your event a successful one. Who knows, you might just get a few high-profile guests through the door.
Even if the aim of your event isn’t to raise brand awareness—perhaps it’s an away day, for example—simply having London’s prestigious postcode attached to it will increase the perceived value of your event before it even begins.
Plenty of fun things to do
The fun doesn’t always have to end when your event does. As the cultural capital of the UK and one of the world’s most vibrant and attractive cities, there are plenty of things to do, see and experience in London.
Keen for a spot of sightseeing? Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge are just some of the iconic landmarks that attract tourists from all corners of the world each year. Fancy some fine dining? Despite Britain’s not-so-flattering reputation when it comes to grub, London actually boasts some of the best food in the world, from Michelin-star restaurants (67 of them, to be precise) to delicious and creative street food markets. Staying out after the event? There’s no shortage of bars, clubs, pubs, theaters, concerts and comedy shows where you can let your hair down.
Hosting your event in London will make it more than just an event; you’ll make it an experience. And to make it a great one, we recommend using Absolute Venues.