News

Manchester Central takes a look forward to 2010

Published at 09:46 on 29th of January 2010

2009 has been an important year for Manchester Central. The Conservative Party Conference, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the X Factor live auditions are a few of the major conferences and events that have taken place at the venue during the past 12 months.

2009 was also a significant year for the venue’s extensive £28.5 million redevelopment programme with the completion of the new Central Foyer. The foyer has given the venue a brand new look and additional meeting rooms with capacities ranging from 40 to 180. In total, the new and extended foyer can accommodate up to 2,000 people. 

Manchester Central’s Sales Director Paula Lorimer talks about the challenges of 2009 and the outlook for 2010.

It has been an exciting year at Manchester Central. We have won some great business including the Soccerex European Forum, which will come to the venue in March 2010 and progress with our redevelopment has brought a whole new look and feel to the site.

Overall, 2009 has been a challenging year for many sectors and events. To help ride the economic storm, we have worked closely with clients by taking a flexible approach and helping them to reduce additional costs, wherever possible.

Moving forward, we will continue to expand the venue’s business mix, focusing on national and international associations. We have some major events coming to Manchester in 2010. Alongside Soccerex, we have the Big Bang fair, the TUC conference and the Labour Party will be returning to the venue. We are realistic and we know that 2010 is going to have its challenges, but in subsequent years we expect to see an upturn, provided that the overall economic outlook continues to show signs of improvement. 

Our business plan remains on track and we expect to see growth in 2010 through to 2011.  We are committed to maintaining market share so we will be competitive, without adopting short-term measures that could have an adverse effect in the long-term.

For further information on Manchester Central visit www.manchestercentral.co.uk