Nottingham named as new host city for GMB Annual Congress

The 97th Annual GMB Congress will come back to Nottingham in 2014 for the first time since the 12th GMB Congress was held in the City in 1908. The Congress is expected to bring 800 delegates and exhibitors to the city and provide a major economic boost for city-centre venues and businesses. GMB Congress is one of the top 20 conferences held in the UK each year and is a major media event which will project Nottingham as a major conference location.

The win is the result of partnership bidding by Experience Nottinghamshire, Capital FM Arena and the Nottingham Hoteliers Association, who worked together to showcase the city’s excellent venues, hotels and facilities to the event organisers.
GMB is a general union with over 619,000 members working in many sectors, and previous host cities have included Brighton, Newcastle and Blackpool.
Steve Short, Executive Officer for GMB, said:
“GMB delegates from all over the UK will look forward to visiting Nottingham and the East Midlands the home of tens of thousands of GMB members and their families. We were looking for a city offering excellent venues, transport connections and value for money, and Nottingham offers all of this in a compact and friendly package. Nottingham has also shown that it does partnership working well, which helped make it the choice for our Congress in 2014.”
The GMB 2014 Congress will be held at Capital FM Arena on Sunday 8 – Thursday 12 June 2014. The news comes ahead of Experience Nottinghamshire’s plans to establish a bidding unit for the city, aimed at bringing in new business and events from around the UK and overseas.
Geoff Huckstep, Chief Executive of Capital FM Arena, said:
 “We’re thrilled to have an event of this profile at Capital FM Arena, and are looking forward to working closely with Experience Nottinghamshire in future on other similar bids to bring large events to the city.”
David Randall, Director of Conferencing for Experience Nottinghamshire, said:
“This win shows that partnership bidding can work in bringing high value events to Nottingham. We have so much to offer as a destination for corporate events and conferences – high quality venues, a compact city centre, excellent transport links and expertise in a broad-range of sectors.”
Paul Michael, Chair of Nottingham Hoteliers Association, said:
“This is great news for the economy of Nottingham! All parties have worked extremely hard to win the conference into the city for 2014. Winning this conference marks an era of linking all Nottingham partnerships together, which supports Nottingham economic growth plan for the future.  We look forward to profiling the city and providing excellent hospitality for the GMB conference.”