Location:

The Radisson Blu Leeds is located in the centre of the city and makes up one side of The Light commercial complex which includes retail outlets such as restaurants, a cinema and clothing shops. Leeds city train station is a short walk and Leeds Bradford airport 25 minutes by car. Manchester airport can be reached in 80 minutes by train directly to and from the airport to Leeds train station. The M1and M62 motorways that connects most of the UK can be reached quickly from the hotel. The hotel is surrounded by retail and commercial shops, the cities Town Hall and restaurants and pubs. There are 402 paid spaces available in an underground garage. Meeting participants receive a discount.

Design:

The Radisson Blu, Leeds is an historic building reflecting the imposing architecture of this part of the city from the 1930’s. It is eye catching and in context to the area. The interior of the hotel reflects Radisson Blu branding and a design based on executive styled, muted grey colours, wooden floors in public areas and an almost industrial to art deco look and feel to some parts of the hotel.

Meeting space:

The rooms are located over 2 purpose-designed conference floors, along with a further room which is located on the 5th floor. Some rooms have unique layouts because of the nature of the structure; one has wood panelling and another has a lounge area that is split from the conference area by pillars. The subdued, grey, and mild tone style of the meeting space matches that of the hotel as a whole.

The hotel is, in our opinion, suited to small and some mid-sized meetings, particularly for training, and HCP groups with access to a regional hub is important.

Sleeping rooms:

54 of the hotel's 147 rooms are in the standard category. The hint of an art deco styling to the rooms is delivered through the use of a grey and white colour theme with furniture aligned to that time period. Upgraded premium rooms, executive as outlined in our room summary, are slightly larger and include an espresso machine. All rooms are equipped with self-controlled air-conditioning, LCD, telephone as well as private bathroom with shower or bath hairdryer, towels, free toiletries, ironing board, iron and complimentary tea and coffee making facilities.

Restaurant:

The FireLake restaurant and cocktail bar, alongside the reception area, takes up the entire ground floor of the hotel. Open for breakfast and dinner the restaurant offers a grill menu with an open kitchen and 70 seats which can be used for meeting groups. Décor maintains the industrial / art deco mix and is unlike most hotel restaurants with a distinct them which thought not high-end is individual. The venue makes some marketing efforts to highlight the bar area as one for cocktails and you will see this prominently on the hotel website. Due to the location within the Light complex and the city atmosphere guests from outside the hotel are very likely to use this as a stop off point to other of the cities social attractions. Meetings space is separated from this area.

Fitness:

The hotel has a small fitness room but no pool or spa facilities. A discount is available for a nearby gym.

When considering the venue as a location for meetings, it is important to consider that it is part of The Light retail and leisure complex. This is balanced by the meeting space being designed to be self-contained with little or no impact from its location. In addition, the hotel's cocktail bar is used as a selling point in certain marketing messages.