VIP guests for new event suite

More than 150 of the most important buyers in the events industry took part in a familiarisation tour of the destination - and the highlight of the Discover 2011 weekend was a black-tie gala dinner at The International Centre.

The special guests were the very first to experience the hospitality in the venue's brand new Ludlow Suite and they were all incredibly impressed with what they saw.

Southwater Event Group chief executive, Tom Gray, said the new suite was a 1300sq m events space with additional seminar rooms and a dedicated banqueting kitchen to serve the new facilities. It also has an amazing floor to ceiling glass wall.

"The new suite means The International Centre now has over 15,000sq m of event space and can offer greater flexibility and capacity to host all kinds of events from small boardroom meetings right through to large scale conferences and exhibitions.

"We were very pleased to be able to unveil this impressive new suite to such a high profile audience, and to welcome such special guests to our gala launch dinner.

"The VIP weekend has been a great success and we're very proud to have worked so closely with Telford & Shropshire Conferences to achieve such an excellent result."

Telford & Shropshire Conferences is the official convention bureau for the area and delivers business tourism services on behalf of Telford & Wrekin Council.

Southwater Event  Group owns The International Centre, Telford, and is also made up of The Holiday Inn, International Hotel, Grays Hotel, and an in-house production company, Stagecraftuk.

The unveiling of the new Ludlow Suite signals the start of the next phase of work to develop a thriving night-time economy at the heart of the town.

Southwater Event Group is working in partnership with Telford & Wrekin Council to deliver the new area through ambitious £250 million redevelopment plans to create a new convention quarter in the town, which will include a selection of new bars, restaurants and hotels.

Tom Gray, CEO of Southwater Event Group, and Roger Black at the launch of the new Ludlow Suite