Two National Sports Centres – at Bisham Abbey, Buckinghamshire, and Lilleshall, Shropshire – have been granted Premier status by Hospitality Assured. The historic, Listed properties specialise in providing a quality service to some of Britain’s leading sports men and women, as well as providing meeting, conferencing and teambuilding facilities for businesses across the country. Both centres achieved over 75% for service and business excellence in hospitality, exceeding the sector average.
Over the last two years, work has taken place to upgrade the meeting rooms, develop state-of-the-art conferencing facilities, and improve the range and quality of food available at both National Sports Centres. A further £16m is being invested in improving the accommodation, sports centre and football pitches at Bisham Abbey, alongside the residents bar at Lilleshall.
Steve Nelson, partnership manager for the National Sports Centres, says: “We are really proud of the result, and have worked hard over the last 12 months to achieve our Premier status. As well as extensive redevelopment of our buildings and conferencing equipment, the team has specifically focused on increasing the catering options available, adding new communication channels – including social media – to receive enquiries, and issuing e-surveys to pick up feedback for us to action going forward.”
Zoe Dixon, head of national centres at Sport England – which owns both centres – adds: “This result is a fantastic achievement for the National Sports Centres, which offer sporting and conferencing facilities for a broad range of customers, year round. Sport England has invested heavily in both centres to ensure we continue to offer world-class facilities and services reflective of good industry standards, so we are very proud to achieve this status.”
