One Conference - Two award Winning Sheffield Venues - The Mowbray & Victoria
We are proud to be a leading Sheffield events space for conferences and meetings. Since we opened The Mowbray over 8 years ago- and Victoria - our third space at the end of 2024 - we have had the privilege of working with forward thinking brands who have the vision and creative approach to work alongside our team to present memorable and exciting conference experiences in both of our venues
Our approach is to blend beautiful historic buildings that have been sustainability renovated and designed with stunning interiors with a ‘food led’ vision that allows guests to experience professional, hospitable and creative environments to give greater amplification to key conference messages and touchpoints.
Save The Children
In February 2025 we had the honor of working with leading charity - Save The Children on an ambitious project - to host South Yorkshire’s first Child Poverty Summit for 210 guests. The organisers embraced the idea of hosting this pivotal event across two venues - The Mowbray and The Victoria to bring a creative edge to their day.
We worked with the Save The Children team to bring their ideas to life - from installations and set up and interactive areas to a screening, a family style communal lunch gathering at The Mowbray and post event drinks in Victoria’s Clubhouse Bar.
Conference Food
Our food is made fresh from The Mowbray and Victoria’s Kitchen by our team of Chefs - we work with the seasons and provenance is key. We bake our own breads, make our own cakes, pickle, cure, smoke top quality ingredients into food that is delicious but also easy. Our way is always to embrace ‘social feasting’ - to allow the feeling of coming together and gathering as one.
We welcomed guests with fresh coffee and pasties on arrival into the venues - and there was free flowing tea and coffee for guests when they needed a top up.
For 'A Place Of Hope' - we hosted a fully vegetarian and nut free lunch as a ‘family style’ Mezze to encourage all guests to pass, share and talk about the food - it was a wonderful experience for 140 guests dining together.
We hosted the rest of lunchtime at Victoria between The Clubhouse and The Lodge.
We catered for all dietary requirements working alongside the organisers to ensure everyone was catered for perfectly.
A Mezze Lunch for 210 Guests
House made flatbreads (v, ve, g)
Spiced curry leaf focaccia (v, ve, g)
Marinated olives (v, ve)
Chickpea hummus (v, ve)
Cucumber tzatziki with dill & mint (v)
Zaatar spiced cauliflower with dates & chickpeas (v, ve)
Crispy feta & spinach spanikopita (v, g)
Red cabbage salad (v, ve)
Potatoes roasted with lemon, oregano & paprika (v, ve)
Chocolate Brownies (v, g)
(v) = vegetarian (ve) = vegan (g) = contains gluten
Conference Refreshments
The Mowbray and Victoria both have full coffee facilities and baristas for all espresso based coffee. At Victoria each of our rooms have ease of service coffee and tea points. Both bars have a fully trained team allowing for top quality soft drinks for guests during the day and cocktails, a wide selection of 0% and low cocktail alternatives, beers and beautiful wines for post event socials.
Far Reaching Results
The event was hailed a huge success - and garnered a huge amount of press coverage and interest with several film crews filming the event for national and international media. It also allowed the key event organiser to give us a stunning across venue testimonial - which includes key sponsor and stakeholder feedback.
Facts
The Mowbray and Victoria are over the road from each other
We hosted an interactive library bus in Victoria’s large courtyard
A 3 day event - with one ‘live day’. We coordinated set up the day before and break down the day after
We hosted multiple interviews and screenings in The Mowbray and Up On the Roof In The Cabin - and at Victoria - The Clubhouse, The Chapel, The Lodge and The Courtyard were all used for sponsor activations, talks and storytelling.
This event welcomed guests of all ages - we worked alongside full safeguarding protocol
We worked alongside the organisers to capture film and photography of their day with full sign off procedure.
The Save The Children Case Study
Presented by Sarah Godfrey of Save The Children.
There are 4.3 million children living in poverty in the UK. That's one in every three children, or nine in a classroom of 30.
In February 2025, Save the Children hosted South Yorkshire’s first Child Poverty Summit, a pivotal moment to spotlight innovative, creative and sustainable solutions aiming to address child poverty in the region. The event acted as a catalyst for strategic conversations and commitments, aiming to drive sustainable, long-term change for families and children at a regional level.
“Congratulations and thank you for the most fantastic summit. It was moving, challenging and hugely motivating all in one day. You organised a complex and large day so well. The tone and feel felt safe and honest, whilst creating hope and energy to tackle children’s poverty together”
Ruth Brown, CEO Sheffield Children’s Hospital Foundation Trust
"Held at the beautifully restored Mowbray and Victoria buildings, deep in the industrial heart of Sheffield, the event was shaped by the voices of the communities that live within South Yorkshire who told us their stories, their everyday realities and their hopes for their futures."
The Summit’s title, 'A Place of Hope', was a direct quote from Professor Sir Michael Marmot, captured in the Panorama film, Britain’s Child Health Crisis, during his visit to The Meadows, the UK’s first trauma-informed nursery, based in north Sheffield. ‘Hope’ is reflected in the everyday at the nursery, which works to support all children and families who come through their doors.
We know that ending child poverty is everyone’s business, and that was reflected in the eclectic mix of contributors and participants, including communities, educators, artists, academics, philanthropists, businesses, charities and funders.
We were delighted to bring together experts with lived and learned experience including journalist and author, Terri White, leading professor in health inequalities, Sir Michael Marmot, South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard and Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. But most importantly, the day was filled with the stories and sounds of the children and families whose voices really matter. Those who are most affected by poverty in our region and whose names and words left imprints in the hearts and minds of all attendees.
“The event was truly inspiring, with powerful speakers, thought-provoking discussions, and the invaluable opportunity to hear first-hand experiences from those directly impacted”
Andrea Liversidge, Founder & CEO Family Works
“I thought it was brilliantly organised, authentic and meaningful, so well done"
Mischon De Reya
"Hosting the Summit across both The Mowbray and The Victoria allowed us to meet our ambitious objectives of offering a range of themes for attendees to engage with and participate in throughout the day and bring particular issues to life, creatively, for attendees."
By taking over the entire space (and even the car park!) we were able to visually demonstrate the impacts of poverty in South Yorkshire through a temporary housing scene, showcase campaigns of partners such as Ikea and Shelter’s Unwelcome Home, and powerful instillations from regional artists.
Shifting power to families was another important and intentional outcome for us and therefore the space that we chose to host such an event was incredibly important. We wanted to evoke a sense of pride, hope and ambition whilst centering people in a space that felt safe, warm and collaborative.
We found exactly that in The Mowbray and The Victoria. Families, children and guests alike told us how impressive they found the venue, how easy and friendly the staff were throughout the day and how sitting down for a delicious, family-style lunch together enabled conversations and connections with those who just happened to be sat near them.
Seeing Brittany Jackson, a powerful parent campaigner sat alongside Save the Children’s CEO, Moazzam Malik, could have only happened at an event like this – where it didn't matter if you have letters after your name and have a fancy job title, or if you are 8 years old. What mattered was if you were part of our movement of making things better for children.
Crucially though, the conversations that were had around that lunch table and over the coffee station have led to impact:
- Colleagues from national funders, businesses and regional corporates who attended are now joining us in an anti-poverty Roundtable, working alongside us to leverage funding and investment into South Yorkshire to tackle the root causes of child poverty
- Attendees from across the public, private and voluntary sector have joined our ‘Child Poverty Think Tank’ and working with us to develop a child poverty strategy for our region
- Children and young people who participated and shared their voices on the day continue to work alongside us to champion the needs of their communities
- Save the Children continue to work closely alongside the government’s Child Poverty Unit to bring family and children’s voice to the heart of the National Child Poverty Strategy, due to be launched in Spring
“The most energetic, moving and thought/provoking event of my time working on disadvantage and poverty”
Jonathan Capstick, Head of the Child Poverty Unit
"This success of the Summit wouldn’t have been possible without the support, advice and vision from the team at The Victoria and The Mowbray.
We worked together to push beyond the lines of the space and test ideas and, by doing so, created an event which leaves an incredible legacy in South Yorkshire and was the starting moment in creating lasting change for children."
Our Thank You's
We would like to extend a huge thank you to Sarah Godfrey and the team at Save The Children for working with us to create this incredible event and to host over our two venues
Thanks also to Fern Merrills from Department Two for capturing the film and photography from the day.