Membership of UVL is by invitation and subject to adherence to the company's criteria and requirements of membership. Prospective member venues must be located within the M25, adhere to the Company's Membership Criteria, be endorsed by the UVL Board and their membership ratified by the member venues.
The membership cost is based on the businesses' turnover, rather than a flat fee, allowing any unique venue to be considered for membership, regardless of business size and venue capacity.
Prospective New Member Venues must meet each criteria listed in sections 1, 2 and 3; note of the overriding nature of section 4 must also be taken into consideration.
Subject to these criteria, the Prospective New Member venue will be invited to complete an in-depth application form for assessment.
Prospective New Member Venues are assessed through the year and are invited to present at one of the member meetings that are held each year. Please note a maximum of three prospective new member venues are invited to present at each of these meetings. Should additional or alternative presentation opportunities be required, the Board of Unique Venues of London shall schedule additional or alternative opportunities as necessary and possible.
On confirmation of membership and subject to receipt of all required documentation, the Prospective New Member Venue’s membership will commence at an appropriate time of year for both parties. Should additional or alternative presentation opportunities be required, the Board of Unique Venues of London shall schedule additional or alternative opportunities as necessary and possible.
1 Demonstrating Uniqueness
1.1 The primary purpose of the prospective new venue or business operated by the prospective new venue must be other than Corporate Hospitality, Hospitality, Entertaining, Catering, Events, Meetings or Conferences. For the avoidance of doubt, Hotels, Nightclubs, Bars, Restaurants, Theme Parks, Retail Outlets, Coworking Spaces, Livery Halls, Town Halls and Civic Centres are not considered suitable for membership of UVL. In addition the prospective new venue must have demonstrable differences from other venues within the membership and will be required to declare the primary purpose of their company or organisation selected from the list below:
- Art Gallery, Museum, Art Collection
- Historic House, Castle, Palace, Iconic Building
- Attraction
- Performing Arts, Theatre, Recording or Film Studio or Set or Cinema
- Religious Buildings & Grounds
- Society, College, Institution, Political or Military HQ
- Home of Sport
1.2 The prospective new venue must make a declaration that the turnover generated from their primary purpose is greater than that generated from Corporate Hospitality, Hospitality, Entertaining, Catering, Events, Meetings or Conferences. They must also formally declare their turnover on an annual basis. The turnover they generate from Corporate Hospitality, Hospitality, Entertaining, Catering, Events, Meetings or Conferences must be more than £75,000 GBP per annum.
1.3 The prospective new venue must be open or accessible to the public with free or ticketed entry on a consistent, documented and formal basis. For the avoidance of doubt, tours by appointment are deemed acceptable.
1.4 The prospective new venue will be judged on the calibre of their event spaces not simply their environment, status, reputation and or location.
1.5 The prospective new venue must offer something to UVL not offered by its existing member venues in terms of event spaces, capacities or capabilities.
1.6 The event spaces within the prospective new venue must be available for commercial external hire - for the avoidance of doubt prospective new venues with event spaces available only to sponsors or members (either corporate, individual or other) are not considered suitable for membership of UVL.
1.7 The commercial external hire of the event spaces must form the majority of the event business (in terms of revenue generated from turnover) with internal and member-only events being the minority of the revenue generated from turnover of events accommodated.
1.8. Should the prospective new venue be one of a larger organisation or collective located in different separate geographical locations, and more than one venue be considered to meet the criteria and therefore acceptable to apply for membership, each prospective new venue within that organisation must apply individually for membership of UVL. For the avoidance of doubt prospective new venues that are in the same geographical location and marketed or promoted as one collection of venues shall be permitted to apply for membership as one venue under one designated venue name.
1.9. Should the prospective new venue be involved in sporting activity or related to sport, it must demonstrably be considered the home of that sport in Great Britain, but may also be associated with a club. For the avoidance of doubt prospective new venues associated solely with a club, league or division will not be considered suitable for membership of UVL.
1.10. Should the prospective new venue consider its primary purpose to be Performing Arts, Theatre, Arena, Recording, Film Studio, Set, or Cinema, it must not be part of a chain and demonstrably offer defining factors that are not offered by any other venue offering these facilities. For the avoidance of doubt, it cannot simply be a venue in which the primary purpose and activity is generic and replicated at other similar venues.
1.11. Should the prospective new venue consider its primary purpose to be an Attraction, it must not be franchised or replicated within Great Britain whereby the attractions are identical or demonstrably similar. Should franchise or replication occur post membership, memberships will cease.
2 Ensuring neutrality and fostering networking and problem solving opportunities for its member venues and their representatives
2.1 The prospective new venue will become the member of UVL and not the representative
2.2 The representative attending the UVL meetings should be wholly employed by the prospective new venue and if not, must demonstrate that they solely represent the interests of that venue.
2.3 The benefits given by virtue of membership of UVL are available only to the member venue including all voting rights.
3 Demonstrating Excellence
3.1 The events business operating at the prospective new venue must have been trading for a minimum of twelve (12) months, during which it has accommodated in excess of five (5) income generating external events, and be able to demonstrate event management expertise and consistency of delivery.
3.1. The events business operating at the prospective new venue must have been trading for a minimum of twelve (12) months, during which it must have accommodated in excess of five (5) income generating external events, have turned over in excess of £75,000 GBP within the 12 month period trading from the income generating external events business and be able to demonstrate event management expertise and consistency of delivery.
3.2. The prospective new venue shall provide two written client references from within the same twelve month period relating to income generating external events held at the prospective new member venue.
3.3. Acceptance as a member is subject to receipt of satisfactory documentation of legislative compliance. This includes, but is not limited to:-
• Health and Safety Policy
• Public Liability Insurance
• Employer Liability Insurance
• The Event Confirmation Process to include contractual documentation with client
• Declaration of License Status including type, council and restrictions
• Declaration of annual turnover from income generating external events
• 12 full months of audited or certified accounts
4. Compliance
4.1. The prospective new venue should be aware that even if they meet the criteria outlined above, the Board of Unique Venues of London will base their endorsement of each applicant on the proactive prioritisation of the diversity of the Company in terms of geographical location, primary purpose and size of business and that the Unique Venues of London Vision, Code of Practice and Articles of Association will be the priority at all times.
4.2. For clarity even where the prospective member meets all other criteria, this clause 4 has entitlement to overrule.
4.3. The prospective venue should be aware that their application and membership shall be governed by the Unique Venues of London Articles of Association at all times. These Articles of Association will be updated from time to time and are available on application and once a Member of UVL, they can be located within the Member Section of the UVL website www.uniquevenuesoflondon.co.uk
To submit interest in becoming a member venue of Unique Venues of London, please click here and complete the initial registration form.