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As one of the city’s leading conference and events organisations, attention to detail and customer satisfaction are always at the top of a very long ‘to do’ list.
When you’re hosting the prestigious annual awards for your own hotel and venues member association, in a room full of your peers of conference and events professionals, with their own forensic attention to detail, quality and delivery of expectations – the heat is most definitely on!
New Dock Hall, the dedicated conference and events space of Royal Armouries has undergone a substantial makeover this year, and the LHVA 2023 Awards provided the perfect opportunity to showcase what we’ve done with the place.
We also wanted to do something a little different with the resources and relationships on our doorstep. We were able to work with our partners at the Royal Armouries museum and open with a spectacular drinks’ reception, amidst the grandeur of our Oriental Gallery. Never have we been so proud of the elephant in the room as guests mingled with the impressive artifacts and collections from the Ming dynasty and others, a fitting backdrop for a Night at the Museum.
As guests sojourned from one venue across the concourse to our main hall, they were treated to real Knights at the Museum experience with a touch of immersive theatre as some of our combat demonstration team battled their way through the crowd, wowing the audience with authentic combat techniques and the challenges of medieval sword fighting. Posing for photos with guests our knights in shining armour added an exciting dimension to the proceedings!
Once ensconced in New Dock Hall, the largest events space at Royal Armouries looked like a night at the Oscars, as guests were wowed by the scale of the show. The team put everything behind this event, the pinnacle of the LHVA calendar. No expense was spared on the lighting, the haze effect and the ‘stadia-worthy audio-visual set up, worthy of the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury!
Not only did the staging look amazing, but the team also excelled in customer service, attentive, responsive, fast. Tables were laid and cleared with precision and the kitchen team surpassed themselves with a Yorkshire themed menu.
Satisfied murmurings were heard as guests enjoyed a starter of Beetroot Cured Salmon with Buttermilk pancake, crab beignets, rosemary mayonnaise. This was followed by a roasted Herdwick Lamb Rump, minted lamb pie confit Roscoff onions, pea puree, lamb gravy or a spiced sweet potato alterative with savoy cabbage parcel, salt baked carrot, puy lentils, coconut cream. The desert of hibiscus and passionfruit parfait with Yogurt custard, chocolate sponge, caramelised almonds or vegan Pineapple Chocolate and Coconut cream rounded off a delicious dinner. All fresh and locally sourced, as part of our commitment to food provenance and reducing our food miles - chef please take a bow!
After a wonderful awards event celebrating the cream of Leeds hospitality and events industry, presented by the effervescent and consummate professional that is Stephanie Hirst, guests hit the dance floor to Under the Covers who brought the house down with their collection of 90s bangers, closely followed by an amazing set from Jam Entertainment’s DJ Katy, who absolutely smashed it!
We were immensely proud to support the LHVA Awards this year, as well as being committed members to the Leeds Hotels & Venues Association, we get a lot from our membership and we were delighted to be able to showcase what we can do, and how we can make a splash to our fellow members and peers. Conferencing and events are such an important sector to the Leeds economy, we were proud to do our bit by hosting this event and celebrate the people who work so hard to create wonderful experiences for our visitors and guests, every day.
