Catering Consultants – Montfort Consultants

Ludlow Assembly Rooms – Concept Definition & Catering Tender

Ludlow Assembly Rooms (LAR) is an independent charity providing a mixed arts programme and community centre for the population of Ludlow and surrounding areas.

LAR opened its doors in May 1993 in the restored and updated buildings of the former Assembly Rooms, dating from 1840. Since then the programme has expanded beyond all expectations, and there is now a film or live event almost every night of the year. The building is very popular and well used, with an estimated footfall of 200,000 per year.

Ludlow Assembly Rooms is embarking on a £2 million transformation project. The planned refurbishment will transform the venue, including a new café bar, box office and visitor information centre, tiered seating in the auditorium (c. 300), a second screening room, and a flexible meeting/ rehearsal space. In addition, a new lift will make the building more accessible, with photovoltaics to the roof helping to reduce energy usage.

The reopening of the redeveloped building is programmed for spring 2019.

Montfort Catering Consultants are very excited to once again be working with Ludlow Assembly Rooms as well as Lyndon Goode Architects. Our scope on this occasion includes supporting with defining the future concept for the new café bar and undertaking a competitive catering tender to appoint a catering partner to manage the café bar as well as event spaces. Further, working with our catering design partner we are supporting with the development of the design elements for the café bar, kitchen and related areas.

Montfort Catering Consultants

Black Country Living Museum – Forging Ahead

For more than 35 years Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) has sought to conserve and celebrate the buildings, traditions and people, which gave the world its first industrial landscape. On its 26 acre site in Dudley, West Midlands, original structures and landscape features from the Black Country’s industrial past (lime kilns, two coal shafts and the canal arm), have been augmented by the addition of over 50 reconstructed shops, houses and workshops and 100 heritage items. It is one of the most extraordinary open-air museums in the UK.

Working industrial exhibits and demonstrations of small scale manufacturing offer a full sensory immersion so that visitors can see, hear, taste, feel, smell, and join in 300 years of Black Country history.

Black Country Living Museum currently attracts in the region of 300,000 visitors a year.

BCLM: Forging Ahead is phase one of a 40-year master plan to create a world class heritage attraction in the heart of the Black Country.

This exciting £21.7m project will see the creation of a new historic development focusing on the 1940s – 60s, the construction of a new visitor centre and car park, and the creation of a new Learning Centre.

The development will feature a working library, shops, NHS clinic, a bowling green as well as a number of food and drink outlets that will be in keeping with the historic setting and complement the overall interpretive experience of the visit. Specifics are still to be confirmed although additional visitor catering could include a café within the new visitor centre, a recreated corner pub, a Civic Restaurant, Ambrose Dairy, Pork Butchers as well as additional pop up visitor catering outlets.

Montfort Catering Consultants are very excited to be working with the Black Country Living Museum undertaking a market analysis, identifying opportunities and developing the future visitor catering strategy, as well as supporting with the development of the financial business case for this fantastic project.

Montfort Catering Consultants