Overall, The People’s History Museum was clean, tidy and looked as advertised. The toilet facilities were located down by reception, so they were a little walk away from the event room, but they were clean and easy enough to access. The food we ordered, including a selection of pastries and brownies, was delicious, and the tea and coffee facilities were exactly what we needed.
However, there were a few issues on the morning of the event. We had been told that we were strictly unable to access the room before 8:30am to begin setting up. The team had initially suggested 9:00am, but we referred back to our contract, where 8:30am had been agreed. As we were travelling from Leeds and wanted to avoid traffic, we arrived at the venue at 7:30am and waited outside until our agreed access time. However, when we were shown to the room at 8:30am, some of our guests had already been allowed in. From an attendee perspective, this unfortunately made us look unprepared and late, despite us not being permitted into the room earlier. We had also arranged for food and refreshments to be available from 8:45am so early attendees could have breakfast before the event began. However, only part of the catering was out at that time, with the rest arriving at around 9:10am. When we raised these points on the day, the response felt slightly hostile, which was disappointing. The person we had organised the event with was also not visible once we arrived and had been shown to the room, which made it harder to resolve things smoothly in the moment. That said, we do appreciate that, due to the issues above, we were given some extra time at the end of the event. We also accidentally left some equipment at the venue, which was sent back to us promptly, and that was very much appreciated. Overall, the venue itself was good and the catering was lovely, but the access, setup and communication on the morning could have been handled better.
Submitted 4 months ago
