New Canadian venue boss is thinking global
Lori Hoinkes, the new chief executive at major event venue Manchester Central is pushing for the city as a whole to drive more international events to the city.
Hoinkes, who originates from Canada and has significant experience in the global events and exhibitions sector, joined Manchester Central in May leaving her role as Chief Growth Officer at London-based Montgomery Group.
She has highlighted academic partnerships as a key part of her strategy, and is looking forward to meeting another Toronto native who has recently arrived in the city, Duncan Ivison, the new president and vice chancellor of the University of Manchester.
She told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We’ve just got an incredible amount of academic institutions that are able to provide a huge amount of tie in and support to the different topics that we are looking at, there’s quite a long list of that makes Manchester really attractive.”
She said many of the trends in the global exhibitions industry are in Manchester’s favour: “There’s a real trend from moving away from big exhibitions that are all things to all people, an exhibition or a conference event, and organisers are trying to look at niche events. I think we can serve that segment of an industry really well.”
Manchester Central
She succeeds Shaun Hinds, who has returned down south to run Newbury Racecourse, and has inherited a business in good shape. Manchester Central attracts over half a million visitors to the city, bringing approximately £150m into the local economy (Greater Manchester) in an average year.
The venue itself is owned by Manchester City Council, but operates on a fully commercial basis. It held 34 events between April and June 2024 welcoming almost 121,000 delegates which it claims translates into a £46.4m contribution to the regional economy through direct and delegate secondary spend across hospitality and leisure.
With over 23,000m² of space and a capacity of over 10,000, the venue is smaller than Birmingham’s NEC and London’s Excel, but claims its strength is in the unique array of events from intimate small business meetings and speaker seminars, to large-scale conferences, gala dinners and awards, public exhibitions, sporting and TV productions, political conferences and international trade shows.
In July the MegaCon Live attracted over 15,000 attendees, many dressed as fictional characters in a Cosplay Exhibition produced by a “Guild of Nerds”.
But Hoinkes wants to emphasise that the global appeal will be the core of the offer. “North America is obviously a traditional key market for the events sector and will continue to be so,” she says. “We have excellent relationships with organisers such as HYROX and JAMfest (new to the venue for 2025) however we are also seeing the European market specifically looking at the North West as a key geography in which to host conferences and exhibitions and a key city in which to meet like-minded investors.”
She said international trade – a side of the business which has been subdued in recent years due to the impact and after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, is now ripe for reinvigorating.
Hoinkes said, “I’ve been impressed by the strength and growth of Manchester Central over recent years, however I believe we have a clear opportunity to capitalise on the increased attention from international markets which are now looking at Greater Manchester as a key global city-region to invest and do business in.”
As Mayor Andy Burnham is fond of reminding national leaders, Greater Manchester’s economy is outpacing the national average and as the largest city region economy outside London, has become a a hub for further investment and economic growth in recent years.
The venue, which succumbed to pandemic-related drop in international visitors over the past five years, has now returned to pre-Covid levels, with Hoinkes pointing to a number of high-profile events as proof points of the international attractiveness of the city. It’s forecast that the prestigious international music convention WOMEX in October will generate a total value of business of £28.3m.
Alongside the expansion of its global presence, Hoinkes is also looking to better understand how the city works, in order to drive forward partnerships across the city.
“I’ve been working really closely with Marketing Manchester, really trying to understand it in a lot of ways. What is it that they’re trying to achieve, and how are they going about different elements, and where might we be able to support, because they obviously have a limited amount of resource that needs to punch well above their weight,” she said.
“By leaning into Manchester’s reputation as a city that ‘gets things done’ and working with our trusted destination partners at Marketing Manchester, the City Council, as well as inward investment and sector bodies, we can really elevate our shared successes to the next level,” she said.
New Junction bar at Manchester Central
Those efforts to bring the venue closer to the city will be helped by the opening of Junction, the new cafe, bar, restaurant and social workspace concept at the front of the building, close the Midland Hotel, the Bridgewater Hall and Barbirolli Square. The space is open to locals, tourists, remote workers, and those attending the events venue a place to meet and greet.
“We already generate a significant impact on the local economy through a top down approach – for every £1 spent in our venue by visiting delegates, £6 is spent in Manchester’s wider hospitality sector from eating out, tourism and accommodation stays.
“We can afford to build on this structure and I want to look at how we extend this support to high-growth sectors from the bottom up. Our venue is where deals are done and we will be looking at how we can support start-ups and small businesses in the entrepreneurial phase to showcase their services, capitalise on spare space and meet organisers hosting here. We want to support them to be in the right place at the right time,” she said.
