Christopher BarrettOne of the first major events to take place last year with social distancing, The London Concours will return to the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) headquarters on 8-10 June, with an extra day and increased capacity.
The luxury car showcase event, described by its organisers Thorough Events as an “automotive garden party”, will have an expanded capacity of 2,500 per day, compared to 1,800 last year, and will include a third day for the first time.
Last year Thorough created a Covid-safe operational plan that involved a reformatted hospitality experience, reduced audience capacity and increased venue space, along with the introduction of separate morning and afternoon tickets. Catering was replaced by the provision of Bento Boxes.
The company’s MD Andrew Evans says that the event will feature around 100 classic and performance cars, and while many of the Covid mitigation measures introduced at last year’s event will remain, table service catering will be provided by Searcys.
He said the capacity has also been grown to alleviate any pressure around attendance.
Evans said, “We are working with health and safety specialists to pull together a robust plan that will satisfy Public Health England, local authorities, the venue and most important of all our audience. Last year, a reviewer said the event was so professionally run that there was almost as much hand sanitiser as Veuve Clicquot Champagne. I loved that backhanded compliment. The same will apply this year.
“We learned so much from staging the event last year and everything that we introduced that worked well will remain in place – the clearly marked hand sanitisation points, clear signage, hygiene hosts managing the washroom facilities inflow and outflow. It’s all going to be put back into place. We might be able to relax our environment a bit more as a result of any regulation change on 17 May but at the moment I’m not predicting any change and we are taking nothing for granted.”