Olympia London

Olympia London, sometimes referred to as the Olympia Exhibition Centre,[1] is an exhibition centre, event space and conference centre in West Kensington, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London, England. A range of international trade and consumer exhibitions, conferences and sporting events are staged at the venue.

Olympia London

Exterior of Olympia Grand as seen from Kensington (Olympia) station
Former names	National Agricultural Hall
Location	West Kensington London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, W14 United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°29′47″N 0°12′35″W
Public transit	Kensington (Olympia)
Owner	Consortium including Yoo Capital, Deutsche Finance Group, Bayerische Versorgunskammer and Versicherungskammer Bayern Group
Capacity	4,000–10,000
Construction
Opened	26 December 1886 (1886-12-26)
Renovated	2013
Expanded	1987; 2011
Architect	Henry Edward Coe
Website
olympia.london

The interior of Olympia, hosting a trade fair

Imre Kiralfy's Venice the bride of the sea, performance poster

There is an adjacent railway station at Kensington (Olympia) which is both a London Overground station, and a London Underground station. The direct District Line spur to the station only runs on weekends.

Background

The hall opened in 1886.

After World War II the West London exhibition hall was in single ownership with the larger nearby Earls Court Exhibition Centre. [2] The latter was built in the 1930s as rival to Olympia.

In 2008 ownership of the two venues passed from P&O to Capco Plc which sold it off as a going concern, while Earls Court was being demolished in 2014 as part of an ambitious regeneration scheme to create more luxury housing. In 2012, Olympia celebrated 125 years of events by commissioning British artists Peter Blake, Rob Ryan, Sanna Annukka and Paul Hicks to create their interpretations of the venues.

In January 2013, a £40 million investment was completed and the company re-launched with a new brand; subsequently the business was awarded the Best Marketing Campaign at the Exhibition News Awards 2014.

• BBC Good Food Show
• Olympia London International Horse Show
• London Chess Classic
• Pure London
• Spirit of Christmas
• International Art & Antiques Fair
• Marketing Week Live
• Great British Beer Festival
• Salon du Chocolat
• UCAS Design Your Future
• National Wedding Show
• Toy Fair

Notable events

• The International Motor Exhibition was held annually at Olympia from 1905 to 1936[3][4]
• The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held at Olympia from 30 July to 8 August 1920
• Jimi Hendrix Experience on 22 December 1967
• Status Quo played on 31 December 1975
• Procol Harum played on 1 January 1976
• Bad Company played on 2 and 3 January 1977
• Rod Stewart performed on 14 and 15 January 1977
• Eubank v Stretch at the WBO Middleweight title battle, 18 April 1991
• The Cure performed on the 26th,27th,28th,30 November 1992
• Smash Hits Awards held at Olympia London on 6 December 1992
• Eubank v Holmes at WBO super middleweight class, 20 February 1993
• Fairuz played on 11 and 12 March 1994
• Eubank v Jose Carlos Amaral at the WBO Super-middleweight Championship, 9 July 1994
• Spencer Oliver v Serge Poilblanc at WBO fight, 12 July 1997
• ATP tennis held from 3-6 December 1998
• 3rd Mind Sports Olympiad held 21-30 August 1999
• Miss World 49th Pageant held on 4 December 1999
• Naseem Hamed v Vuyani Bungu at WBO featherweight title battle, 11 March 2000
• MOVE IT annual dance event, first held 2005
• Chemical Brothers played on 30 August 2008
• Vivienne Westwood hosted a catwalk show for London Fashion Week in Olympia London, 21 February 2009
• Bloc Party played at Olympia London on 11 and 12 May 2009
• Gavin Rees v Colin Lynes at Prizefighter light-Welterweight battle, 2 December 2009
• Primal Scream performed on 26 and 27 November 2010
• Got to Dance aired from Olympia London on 29 January 2011
• Darren Barker v Domenico Spada in the WBO European Middleweight title, 30 April 2011
• Doctor Who Experience was held from 1 January to 22 February 2012
• Got to Dance final aired live in March 2012 and 2013
• Hatsune Miku Expo 2018 Europe, the first Hatsune Miku concert in the UK, 8 December 2018
• Olympia Beauty [5] is an annual beauty event which first was held at Olympia in 2004
• RuPaul's DragCon UK, an expo of drag culture which will be held in January 2020.[6]

Political gatherings

• A mass meeting of Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists was held at Olympia on 7 June 1934 which resulted in clashes with their Socialist and Communist opponents and much press comment.[7]
• A European Parliament election rally of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party was held at Olympia on 21 May 2019 despite the owner's objection to their policies.[8][9]

References

1. "Grand Hall and Pillar Hall, Olympia Exhibition Centre". Historic England. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
2. Glanfield, John. (2003). Earls Court and Olympia: From Buffalo Bill to the Brits. London: Sutton Publishing.
3. About SMMT Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
4. Stefan Dierkes. "British International Motor Show: Locations and Dates". Pietro-frua.de. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
5. "Olympia Beauty - Home". www.olympiabeauty.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
6. "RuPaul's DragCon UK Was Just Announced! | What A Drag Blog". What A Drag. 8 September 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
7. https://www.newstatesman.com/archive/2013/08/oswald-mosley-memories-unrepentant-fascist
8. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/the-londoner-olympian-struggle-for-the-brexit-party-a4146636.html
9. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/remain-campaigner-called-traitor-doused-16183315

External links

• Official website

Preceded by Port Glaud	Miss World Venue 1999	Succeeded by Millennium Dome