Brexit – the good news for London City venues

Nearly 77% of London City venues, according to a recent survey, are expecting an increase in revenue in the next 12 months, in spite of the uncertainty caused by Brexit.

The survey, carried out by London City Selection (LCS) – a consortium of City venues and suppliers – uncovered several other positive findings. Notably, that 70% of respondents are optimistic about the coming year and 70% have seen no movement or an increase in confirmed booking when comparing 2018 to 2019.

The State of the Industry survey was sent to LCS members to explore the affect Brexit has been having on the events industry in 2019. “Brexit is something everyone across every industry in the City is speculating about,” says Sarah McQueen, Venues & Hospitality Manager at the London Museum, “We wanted to go out there and pull together some facts so we could give our members, and the industry, some clarity about what’s really going on.”

Although the results of the survey look as though 2019 is going to be a good year for the events industry in the City, there are a few areas that may cause some concern including customer spend. Nearly 70% of those surveyed said they felt “client budget is becoming an issue in the face of Brexit”.

It also appears that more venues have seen a dip in overseas bookings (15.38%) compared to only 7.9% enjoying an increase and that venues are concerned about recruiting and maintaining staff in the future. “Brexit is definitely playing a role in recruitment and staff retention,” one respondent said. “The recruitment pool seems to be smaller and overall time to fill a position is longer.” Over half (53.85%) of individuals completing the survey were concerned about this area.

Paul Martins, LCS Chair says: “There’s no doubt that the uncertainty of Brexit is going to affect us all but it’s encouraging to see that, certainly in the short term, LCS member venues are generally optimistic about the next 12 months.”