Bang in the centre of London, The Congress Centre is a magnificent venue space, with a tonne of history. The venue, proud home to the Trade Union Congress (TUC), provides an amazing solution for any event, big or small, in the heart of the capital. To add to all of this, the Congress Centre has a £85 DDR offer on for events between 150-500 delegates between April and June 2024!
Built for a purpose, The Congress Centre was created as a memorial to the trade unionists who fought tirelessly during the second world war. There was something special about a venue that was bolstered by the foundations that it was created on, there’s an ethos that runs through the bones of this space, which we think gives it a fantastic coherence, and a serious sense of team spirit.
This building’s interior is just cool. Simple, sleek yet so fresh-feeling, as you enter you’re flooded with natural light thanks to a decision many years ago, by the building’s designer, David Aberdeen, to have a large central courtyard that allows for natural light to flow through this remarkable space.
The venue is home to sixteen distinct meeting spaces, across its 6 floors, each providing solutions for events of all sizes. With some particularly outstanding setups, what was so impressive about the Congress Centre was how well they’d used their central location. They haven’t just rested on the laurels of being minutes away from some of the most accessible stations in London, but more so compounding their benefits, by fitting so many magnificent meeting spaces into the venue, without the building ever feeling cramped or any of the spaces lacking sufficient space.
The design team have done a fantastic job here, not just at embracing the fantastic architecture of the building, but keeping it up to date and fresh feeling - still modern to this day, decades after its first opening.
There’s also a fantastic pair of sculptures that form central icons of the Congress Centre. The “Spirit of Brotherhood” stands iconically above the main entrance - symbolising everything this venue stands for, and in the interior courtyard is the more interpretive sculpture of a mother cradling a son. Both are breathtaking pieces that really add an artistic flair to what is ultimately a hugely practical and well designed space. We love touches like this that bring venues to life and give them a unique personality!
Address: 28 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS
Website: https://www.congresscentre.co.uk/
Conference Sales Contact: Ruby Chagger
Tel: 020 7467 1318
Email: congress.centre@tuc.org.uk RChagger@tuc.org.uk
Distance & time from nearest airport: 10 miles to London City Airport 57 minutes by car or 32 minutes by train.
Distance & time from nearest railway station: 3-minute walk from Tottenham Court Road Underground Station (0.1 mile)
Parking: Congress Centre has two public car parks in the immediate vicinity located on Great Russell Street and Museum Street, as well as metered on-street parking.
Wi-Fi: Free standard Wi-Fi, supported by a 1GB Fibre Optic Secure line.
The Congress Centre is an amazingly well connected venue, unsurprisingly given its fantastic location. Only 3 minutes walk from Tottenham Court Road tube station, the Congress Centre is also only 10 miles from London City Airport, which is just a half-an-hour train journey, or 57 minutes in the car - if you’re brave enough to drive in Central London!
Travelling by car is helped however by two large public car parks in the immediate vicinity of the venue, located on Great Russell Street and Museum Street, as well as metered on-street parking all around the area - headache solved! As is evident in all of The Congress Centre’s facilities, they don’t even let headaches occur when planning your event - every issue, or potential roadblock to having the best meeting/showcase/conference is already solved for you. Evidential of a fantastic team that put in hard work behind the scenes to make events feel seamless and high end!
Many venues offer free wi-fi for clients, in fact, we’d hope all do. But you might’ve noticed a trend with The Congress Centre, they go a step further, the wi-fi here is supported by a 1GB Fibre Optic Secure line, making work easy to get done if your meeting requires video calls or some work being done afterwards, you can rest assured that it’ll be buffer free.
As you enter the lovely reception, you’ll be greeted by the staff here, who we thought were outstanding, really friendly, really helpful and really knew their way around the place! The reception also boasts the fresh “Congress Centre” branding in a subtle tasteful way that can be found around the building; there's a simplicity to the “house style” design here that we enjoyed.
Straight downstairs from reception is the building's largest and most impressive space, The Congress Hall. No spoilers! We will tell you all about it in the Meeting Space Highlights, but it’s worth noting that there’s a fantastic registration desk at the bottom of the stairway to the Congress Hall, that’s customisable with whatever branding you need. In this area there’s also some toilets and a cloak room - of course!
No great venue would be complete without some fantastic catering, and thankfully the Congress Centre has an unbelievable team of in-house caterers. A touch we adored was that the Congress Centre hire its own head chef and kitchen staff, which really adds to the tight knit nature of the team here.
Not only that, the Head Chef (Damon Shortland) and staff being on the Congress team means that you, the organiser, gets so much more control and scope when it comes to the menus available to be served. There’s a fantastic variety of food that - we’re gutted we didn't have time to try, there was just so much to see (maybe next time…)!
The food of course can be scaled for whatever size your event needs to be, whether it’s a launch event with hundreds in attendance, or a small meeting with you and some potential clients, each dish is treated with the same care and respect, and cooked to the highest standards.
Team building can be done however you’d like inside the venue. The team here can facilitate a variety of fun-filled options across their big and small spaces. Unfortunately, there’s no opportunities for outdoor team building but we found that what this venue can provide in its capabilities to put on events from expos to lunches, outshone the need for a game of footy outside! That being said, the Congress Hall provides such an amazing, versatile, blank canvas of a space, you could put on an indoor football match! The team told us that once they turned the hall into a fairground complete with a mechanical bull!
The impressive versatility of the venue is facilitated by the teams can do attitude, proven in the amazing stories of how the hall and the many meeting spaces have been transformed from event to event, including for the annual TUC Congress which never fails to impress, both in its fantastic ideas, and its amazing setup!
Meeting Space Highlight: Congress Hall
This space speaks for itself, and it speaks LOUD! What a fab area, with totally unrestricted views of the central stage area (which can be removed), natural light flooding in from the very impressive “space-frame” ceiling. The Congress hall is so, so, so ridiculously versatile, with the ability to put on conferences, AGMs and exhibitions, launch events, and corporate events.
Location: Lower Ground Floor
Natural light: Natural daylight without glare, thanks to its stylish 1950s space-frame ceiling.
Size: 432.05M²
Reception: 850
Theatre: 500
Cabaret: 256
Dinner: 320
AV Equipment included: BOSE Sound System with Ceiling Voice Enhancement Speakers Data Projector, Front Projection – Panasonic high definition, 20,000 Lumens Screen – 16:9 aspect ratio (18ft x 10ft) OR 4:3 aspect ratio (12ft x 10ft). Lectern & Microphones with Easy Screen, Head Table seating up to 8 people with Microphones & Easy Screen (1 between 2 people). 2 x 85″ Panasonic High Definition Plasma Screens, one in each wing. Opus 300 Seamless Switcher, Allen and Heath SQ7, 48 Channel, Digital Mixing Desk, LED Coloured Lighting behind and above the stage, Source Four Stage Lighting, Infra-Red Hearing Loop System.
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Meeting Space Highlight: Council Chamber
Light and Breezy with high ceilings and big windows looking out onto the courtyard create a bright space that is perfectly suited to product launches and presentations, or even something like a training day. Yet another testament to this venue’s versatility is this space's history of being used for film and commercial shoots!
Location: 5th Floor
Best use for room (conference, dinner, reception. Etc):
Size: 195.30 Sq.M
Reception: 150
Theatre: 160
Cabaret: 80
Dinner: N/A
AV Equipment included: HD Data Projector – Built-in front projection – 13,000 Lumens Screen 10 x 6 ft (16:9 ratio), LCD Screens 42″ x 2 (Ceiling Mounted), Lectern with Microphone x 1 Head Table seating up to 6 people with Microphones (1 between 2 people), Yamaha LS9 32 Channel Digital Sound System, Stage Blocks x 4 – height 8 inches (3 pieces for Head Table & 1 piece for Lectern), Analogue Way Quick Vu4K Switcher.
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Meeting Space Highlight: Invision Suites 1&2
This one might be cheating a little, but this pair of spaces are both so impressive we had to include both. Yet again stocked to the teeth with amazing AV equipment if needed, the invision suites were smaller, but just as resourceful for your meeting. Invision Suite 1 and 2 can be combined to form a larger meeting space, not just that, each room comes with its own reception area which can also be used as a breakout space.
Location: 2nd Floor
Best use for room Natural light: Large windows provide natural light.
Size: 120.32 Sq.M
Reception: N/A
Theatre: 130
Cabaret: 56
Dinner: N/A
AV Equipment included: Panasonic Data Projector – Built-in front projection, Screen 6 x 4 ft Lectern with Microphone x 1, Head Table seating up to 6 people with Microphones (1 between 2 people), Sound System Hearing Loop.
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Summary
Can you tell we loved it here, The Congress Centre is proof that venues can be exceptional no matter the location, size or history. This is an excellent option for central London events – great location, purpose built but with a serious sense of style too.
We were not just blown away by the sleek wood detailing and designs of each meeting space, but also the amazing plethora of AV equipment that each room had on offer, especially the Congress Hall… that list is never ending! And not to be daunted by either, the team here has an in-house technician team available to hire for your event, so you don’t need to outsource suppliers - they really are an amazing one-stop shop!
We implore you to check out the Congress Centre next time you’re in the capital, you’ll be smitten, and ready to book it for your next event - just don't forget that amazing £85 DDR offer!