Hospitality Event Feature - London Bierfest

Address:	Old Billingsgate Market, Lower Thames Street, London EC3
Tel	0870 780 8157
Fax	020 7376 7467
Email:	Contact by email
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A BARREL OF LAUGHS

Square Meal looks forward to this year’s Bierfest with great anticipation.

Busty blonde waitresses wearing tight-fitting dirndls, overflowing steins of Paulaner beer, plates stacked up with cold meats, cheeses and pretzels, Bavarian-style music playing softly in the background. This is Bierfest – a quirky, but rather tame affair as it opens for its evening session. By the time it closes, some four hours later, it’s a totally different story: a lederhosen-clad Oompah band belts out tunes at high volume, guests decked out in fancy dress items (Heidi-style plaits, moustaches and hats) have got up from tables and headed off to the dance floor, and the energy inside Old Billingsgate has become completely frenetic with London’s take on Munich’s Oktoberfest.

Bierfest arrived in London four years ago and has since become one of the most anticipated dates on the corporate hospitality calendar. Held at a time when there’s a lull in the corporate entertainment market – after the rush of summer parties and before the onslaught of Christmas do’s – it’s the ideal autumn team-building event. From small beginnings in 2002 with just three dates in London, it has grown steadily, accumulating a huge fan base. This year, it will be hosting five dates in London, four in Manchester, two in Edinburgh, and one in Aberdeen, while Quintus Events and The Ultimate Experience, who co-host the event, have announced plans to expand abroad to Ireland and South Africa.

Square Meal has been taking clients from day one and, not only have we always enjoyed it immensely, we’ve become accustomed to hearing highly positive feedback: ‘The heady mix of steins of Paulaner, lederhosen, live Oompah bands and a dance floor means you can’t fail to have a great time. We’ll hopefully be back in force next year!’ raved David Ace of ZenithOptimedia, who joined us last year.

There’s no big secret as to why Bierfest makes for such great hospitality. The premise is very simple – it’s just good, wholesome fun and, given the entirely corporate clientele, it’s relatively inexpensive at around £95 per person. Old Billingsgate is the perfect venue and looks great revamped as a huge German beer tent, with flags and banners and row upon row of communal tables. Waitresses run up and down the isles, delivering beers at lightning speed and as there’s no queuing at the bar the evening offers great opportunities for people to chat and get to know one another, though there’s no doubt that conversation tends to get rather slurred later on.

‘An absolutely brilliant night out,’ Claudia Hobbs at Walkermedia told us after her first time at Bierfest. And there was a similarly glowing report from Andrew Banks, advertising media planner at ZenithOptimedia, who was certainly taken with the whole thing: ‘The London Bierfest proved itself to be one of the best corporate nights of the year. As soon as I arrived I knew the stage was set for a great evening; magnificent venue, plenty of food, and lashings of Paulaner. The Oompah band and other live acts did a great job of stirring an already lively crowd – you simply can’t fail to have fun at the Bierfest!’

Last year, over 36,000 steins of beer were consumed at the nine Bierfest events, and over 10,000 very happy guests attended. Why not join them and Square Meal this year, let your hair down and have a really good night with clients and colleagues? Prost!

HOSPITALITY AT THE BIERFEST

Click here to find out more about hospitality packages at London Bierfest.