The HRH Group and the British and International Golf Groundkeepers Association sign a three-year partnership

The HRH Group and BIGGA, the British and International Golf Groundkeepers Association, have today signed a three-year partnership deal to host the HQ for the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition, BTME, in Harrogate.

The deal will see the BIGGA team and its thousands of members and associated trade supporters descend on the town for their annual event in the New Year. Spanning five days the twinned conference and exhibition at the Harrogate Conference Centre is expected to bring over 6,500 Sports turf professionals, golf club owners, managers, decision makers and golf industry supporters to the town at the end of January.

Hosting the headquarters, The Yorkshire Hotel, the newest Harrogate hotel in the HRH Group’s six hotel strong portfolio, will be the base for the BIGGA team, providing accommodation, dinners and after dinner drinks for them and their members before and during the event.

The Yorkshire Hotel has recently completed a multi-million pound refurbishment, restoring the grand Victorian building back to its former glory and creating an impressive botanically inspired restaurant and bar, The Pickled Sprout. Recognising the hotels new lease of life, the BIGGA team have chosen to secure the next three years HQ at the property, with the group’s food and beverage reputation a key factor in the decision making.

Jim Croxton, CEO of BIGGA: said:

We are delighted to be bringing our annual exhibition, conference and our members back to Harrogate again in the New Year. The BIGGA team were impressed with the newly refurbished The Yorkshire Hotel and following meetings with Simon Cotton and the team at the HRH Group we are pleased to confirm our commitment to host our headquarters at the hotel for the next three years. After a year’s break, we are excited to be bringing the greenkeeping community back together again in Harrogate this January. All indications are that our community can’t wait to reunite in Harrogate for what we confidently expect will be one of the busiest BTME’s ever.

The BIGGA team join a growing list of Town Event Organisers who have chosen to move their Headquarters for their events in Harrogate to one of HRH Group’s properties.  A number of leading exhibition hosts have now chosen either The Yorkshire or the White Hart Hotels as their headquarters and in the last year, the Christmas and Gift Show, The Nursery Show, the Fashion Show and the Bridal Show have all opted for the central Harrogate Hotels.

Simon Cotton, Managing Director of HRH Group added:

After a large refurbishment we are pleased to announce another large organisation choosing The Yorkshire Hotel as their headquarters. The BIGGA conference and exhibition brings the leading companies and best organisations in the world of golf to Harrogate every January and we are excited to be hosting the headquarters here at The Yorkshire Hotel.  It is testament to the investment we have made into the hotels and the town as a whole that these key event organisers have chosen to link up with us going forward and we very much look forward to welcoming them back to Harrogate in the New Year.