Leamington Roadshow

Leamington’s business community recently rubbed shoulders with Wasps Rugby Club’s players at a networking event in the town.

Around 80 professionals were joined by players Craig Hampson and Marcus Watson at the Fox and Vivian pub on Clarendon Avenue, as Wasps gear up for two big Gallagher Premiership fixtures at Ricoh Arena against Sale Sharks on Saturday 23 February (kick-off 2pm) and Newcastle Falcons on Saturday 9 March (kick-off 2pm).

Nick Eastwood, Chief Executive of Ricoh Arena and Wasps, shared details about the venue’s future plans, which has recently held a record year by welcoming 1.6 million visitors across 857 different events – and their decision to locate their new training ground in the town.

Eastwood said: “An increasing number of businesses across south Warwickshire are utilising our venue for meetings, conferences and exhibitions, or turning to Wasps match-day hospitality as a way of hosting clients and treating staff, which was reinforced by the great turnout we had for this event.

“Ricoh Arena has an exciting programme of events coming up that will make Coventry and Warwickshire one of the go-to UK destinations this summer, starting with the arrival of Catfish And The Bottlemen in May.

“We have one of the world’s biggest girl groups – the Spice Girls – performing two dates in early June, the Soundscape Festival which is being headlined by David Guetta, while Bon Jovi is also returning to the venue for the third time.

“We are also stretching the flexibility of the venue by hosting Monster Jam, which will be the first time that Ricoh Arena has hosted a monster truck show.”