Royal Armouries International

First impression: The first thing that hits you about the Royal Armouries is just how central it is to Leeds! It is located very close to city centre, which is easily accessible by foot with a nice walk along the banks of the River Aire. Once you get to the venue, you are immediately hit by the large paved area between the Royal Armouries and New Dock Hall, which can be used for lots of different outdoor activities, such as a place to showcase vehicles, outdoor dining opportunities, etc. It could be very useful for your event.

The venue is stunning and very impressive. Your clients will really love this place – especially when you step inside the main Royal Armouries building. Trust me on this one.

Parking: There is a 24 hour, multi storey car park with places for 1,650 cars right next to the Royal Armouries and New Dock Hall.

Coach / Bus Pick-up Location at venue: There is plenty of spaces for coaches to drop off / pick up delegates. No problems foreseen at all.

Lobby: Once inside the Royal Armouries you are immediately hit by the impressive central foyer that runs through the building, which on my visit was the home to a busy drinks reception and I have to say that it worked perfectly, with drinks stations, chocolate fountains and much more lining the foyer on either side. It worked really well.

Bedrooms: There are 8,000 rooms available within walking distance of the Royal Armouries, with the Holiday Inn express located on site with 133 rooms on offer.

Wi-fi: There is free public wi-fi and it worked really well on my visit.

Number of floors: Four

STAFF

The staff at Royal Armouries International were absolutely fantastic - super friendly and very well drilled at making the events run smoothly. As mentioned earlier, there were multiple Christmas parties taking place at the time of my visit. The Royal Armouries Hall had a dinner / band / disco for 450 pax and New Dock Hall had the same but for over 800 pax – and the operational team were working super hard, but you could see they are so well drilled and practised at delivering for huge numbers – all under the watchful eye of hands-on Managing Director Jim Vincent, who has been with the organisation for the last 20 years.

RESTAURANTS & BARS

Flexibility of the space is the key here as the venue had some absolutely fantastic pop-up bars that were so good, you wouldn’t know they were temporary. Probably the best I’ve seen to be honest – I really loved them. There are also a couple of permanent bars in some of the meeting rooms but as mentioned above the venue can cater for whatever you need. There is also a café at the entrance to the Royal Armouries but this was more aimed at the visitors to the museum

Now this is where things got really interesting. To put it quite simply, the flexibility of both venues is absolutely fantastic. From the way you can use the lobby of the Royal Armouries right through to the different options for the Royal Armouries Hall, there is definitely an event space for you.

New Dock Hall

Located 30 seconds walk across the fab concourse outside the Royal Armouries, New Dock Hall is their latest addition to the conference offering. This venue is the largest event space at this venue and is the perfect blank canvas (no pillars!!) to create your tailored event. Situated on the ground floor with excellent access for loading (inc access for vehicles for car launches etc) this space is ideal for anything that you can think of – large conferences / dinners (it has its own large kitchen), product launches, performances, etc.

Natural light: Yes – in the foyer but none in the main room

Size: 1539 Sq.M

Theatre: 1200

Cabaret: 750

Dinner: 1000

Reception: 1500

Location: Ground floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & ceiling mounted projector

Royal Armouries Hall

Located on the ground floor right next to the main entrance, this is the venue’s largest room, which can be used in its entirety or can be split up into 3 separate rooms. The option to put in excellent staging to two sections is definitely a plus point. At the time of our visit there was a dinner dance for 450 pax and the place looked absolutely amazing. It is ideal for dinners or high profile lectures etc. It’s a very impressive and flexible room

Royal Armouries Hall - Main Hall (A, B & C combined)

Natural light: Some

Size: 886 Sq.M

Theatre: 500

Cabaret: 250

Dinner: 700

Reception: 1000

Location: Ground floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & ceiling mounted projector

Royal Armouries Hall A

Natural light: Some

Size: 152 Sq.M

Theatre: 70

Cabaret: 50

Dinner: 60

Reception: 120

Location: Ground floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & ceiling mounted projector

Royal Armouries Hall B

Natural light: Some

Size: 136 Sq.M

Theatre: 100

Cabaret: 60

Dinner: 80

Reception: 180

Location: Ground floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & ceiling mounted projector

Royal Armouries Hall C

Natural light: Some

Size: 598 Sq.M

Theatre: 400

Cabaret: 250

Dinner: 500

Reception: 700

Location: Ground floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & ceiling mounted projector

Bury Theatre

This fabulous lecture theatre is spread over two tiers with gently sloping floors on the ground floor and a small balcony overhead, with all seats commanding an excellent view of the built in staging. This room is perfect for conferences due to the placing of the stage and the excellent view point from every seat. It can be used independently or in conjunction with the Royal Armouries Hall or the adjacent

Bury Theatre – Stalls

Natural light: No

Size: 208 Sq.M

Theatre: 186

Location: Ground floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & ceiling mounted projector

Bury Theatre – Balcony

Natural light: No

Size: 40 Sq.M

Theatre: 64

Location: First floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & ceiling mounted projector

Wellington Suite

Located on the first floor, this fantastic room gives amazing views of the Leeds docks area with masses of natural light and an outside terrace. It is a very popular meeting room at this venue as it works in all the various setups but is especially good for both conferences and banqueting / parties alike. It also has a built in bar which can be very discreetly hidden away for conferences.

Natural light: Yes – lots!

Size: 282 Sq.M

Theatre: 200

Cabaret: 100

Dinner: 144

Reception: 200

Location: First floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & ceiling mounted projector

Tower Gallery

Located on the third floor, this is a smaller meeting room with lots of natural daylight – ideal for smaller conferences /meetings

Natural light: Yes

Size: 90 Sq.M

Theatre: 60

Cabaret: 40

Lunch: 50

Reception: 100

Location: Third floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & projector

War Gallery

This room gives you the amazing opportunity to create themed dinners / receptions in a historical backdrop. The museum offer extracts from live characters describing various battles in history – perfect when you are looking for something that little bit different for your clients.

Natural light: No but is light and airy

Theatre: 70

Dinner: 160

Reception: 400

Location: Second floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & projector

Tournament Gallery

Located on the second floor, this room contains really impressive gallery displays and is ideal for a drinks reception where your guests can witness knights in shining armour wielding various weapons.

Natural light: No but is light and airy

Dinner: 60

Reception: 200

Location: Second floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & projector

Oriental Gallery

This fourth floor room is perfect for a drinks reception or dinner and benefits from fantastic oriental theming. A definite wow factor

Natural light: No but is light and airy

Theatre: 100

Cabaret: 64

Dinner: 80

Reception: 300

Location: Fourth floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & projector

Hunting Gallery

This is a fantastic private dining venue, perfect for an intimate and classy drinks reception or private dinner. In the Gun Room section, the venue have entertained the Russian Ambassador amongst many other VIPs

Natural light: No

Dinner: 16

Reception: 100

Location: Fourth floor

News Room

This room on the fourth floor has some fixed, tiered seating as well as some flexible space, where you could put tables or theatre style seating. Ideal for small conferences that could benefit from being close to the Oriental & Hunting Gallery rooms during coffee break / lunch etc

Size: 192 Sq.M

Natural light: No

Theatre: 130

Cabaret: 80

Location: Fourth floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & projector

Cinema Of War

This self-contained cinema is located on the second floor is perfect for presentations / product launches etc for just over 100 delegates.

Size: 118 Sq.M

Natural light: No

Theatre: 117

Location: Second floor

AV Equipment included: Screen & projector