Welcome to the Yorkshire Event Centre

Our Story

The Yorkshire Event Centre is based on the Great Yorkshire Showground, just outside of the spa town of Harrogate. The Showground has been the venue for the Great Yorkshire Show since 1951. This annual three day event attracts more that 135,000 visitors each year.

Investments into the facilities has been consistent and created some great event spaces. We welcome many thousands of visitors to hundreds of events, ranging from conferences, exhibitions, dinners, team building and private trade events.

There have been many highlights throughout the years, including president Bill Clinton speaking at a prestigious conference through to Elton John performing here.

Our ethos is to offer the best facilities and service with a true Yorkshire welcome.

All our profits go to charity

All our profits fund the work of our charity, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS). The Yorkshire Agricultural Society aims to unite rural life in Yorkshire with leadership, commitment, passion and creativity. This is done by organising educational events for children and families, supporting the environment, sponsoring events and conferences, grants, promoting careers in agriculture, developing skills, and knowledge transfer. For more details please see YAS.

Meet our family

The Great Yorkshire Showground is home to a family of businesses.

Pavilions of Harrogate has 14 function rooms accommodating from 12 – 460 people, for conferences, weddings, dinners, training and other events.

Fodder is a fantastic farm shop with a impressive butchery, delicious deli, busy café and a popular takeaway ‘Fodder on the Hoof’. Fodder supports over 430 farmers and local producers.

Harrogate Caravan Park boasts a great location, friendly staff and 67 generously sized pitches for caravans, motorhomes and tents.

Environmentally friendly

Here at the Yorkshire Event Centre we strongly believe in environmentally friendly events and doing our bit to help the planet. We are proud to have achieved the Green Tourism Silver Award.

Waste Management – we are proud that none of our waste goes to landfill, it is all recycled or converted back into energy.

Solar Panels – we installed 960 large solar panels, this means we can reduce our onsite grid energy usage and provide significant environmental benefits.

Venue Lighting – we installed 953 LED lights throughout the venue, helping to reduce energy consumption.

Insulation – Hall 1 boast amazing insulation. Not only does this make our heating more efficient but ensures that we don’t adversely affect our neighbours with any noise pollution.

Toilets – our toilet doors and vanity units are made from recycled plastic bottles. They not only look great but are also award winning!

Water – our water is sourced from an onsite spring via a borehole, all processed and run through our own pump house.

Catering – We aim to source local ingredients where we can, meaning our food is not only fresh, but is environmentally friendly as possible. Our cafes only use paper straws, wooden cutlery and food packaging and trays are made from recycled materials. Where possible, any food left after events is donated to the Harrogate Homeless Project, helping support the great work they do in our community.

Supporting Local – Where possible we use local suppliers for goods and staffing of events.

Transport – We have direct links with the Showground Greenway and offer bike racks outside the venue. If you need to charge an electric car please contact us before your event to arrange this.

Yorkshire Event centre is situated in 250 acres of green space. This is not only used for events but through the work of YAS we can run free educational workshops for local schools and CPD training courses on the importance of the environment, creating a sustainable landscape and supporting natural wildlife.