Bristol Bears Rugby won the Visiting Rugby Directors Award.
The award was voted for by Directors at each rugby club and based on the best away experience when travelling with their team during the 2022/23 season.
Directors were specifically asked to consider the welcome, service and catering when casting their votes, with Bristol Bears beating Hull Football Club (silver), Leicester Tigers Rugby Club and Leeds Rhinos Rugby Club (bronze) to collect the top prize.
Gavin Marshall, Bristol Bears CEO, said: “It is a real honour to receive this award, as voted by our peers. It is a testament to our fantastic operations team and stadium team, who go the extra mile to ensure our boardroom is an excellent experience for our visiting clubs.”
Ashton Gate was also awarded the bronze medal in the Best Retail Catering Award category, which recognises the best retail catering teams in the UK based on the commercial growth, high quality food offerings or proactive sustainability improvements.
Stadium Experience Chair Person, Collette Salmon, said: “Every year we go all out to showcase that stadia across the UK are at the top of their game when it comes to both hospitality and events. After an extremely challenging period, this has never been more important. Our member venues are always looking for new and innovative ways to deliver above and beyond customer expectations – Whether on a match day or on a non-match day. Our consortium works hard behind the scenes, so the customers have a fantastic experience. This year’s awards evening was a fantastic celebration of all of this hard work. Huge congratulations to all of this year’s worthy winners.”
The Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards 2023 is organised by Stadium Experience annually, and recognises the efforts and dedication shown by the catering, conference and events teams at every football, rugby and cricket stadium across the UK.
