Paintball Festival - London

[The Zambezi Kid]

Battersey Power Station has held a few extreme sports festivals - the Redbull X-Fighters (motorbikes etc), a snowboarding/Skiing thing on artificical slopes/snow etc. It may be easier to get hold that rather than near the London Eye, especailly since the Met police may get a bit ansty about having things that look similar to firearms in such a public place close to/in the Government Secure zone. Horse Guards Parade would be a great location, but seriously unlikely.

One of the major parks may be a good idea. If Hyde park can fit in concerts etc, paintball may be doable.

 

[Liam92]

What about parking, not just for the players, but for the vendors ? Also could we have the congestion charge fee included in the entrance fee

Being right in the very centre of London with tube entrances so close I'd probably look at just taking public transport. even coming from Scotland, a train in to the centre of london is pretty easy.

I agree that space would need to be considered for vendors but there's only a limited number of people that applies to, but parking for the masses would probably be minimal. As a suggestion, since space will be so limited I'd maybe suggest that once you find out how much space can be allocated for parking, you can then give a set number of parking tickets to players, and once they are gone there is no guaranteed parking for anybody else.

With a bit of careful planning once the venue is confirmed it should be relatively straightforward to draw up some plans on how things would be arranged.

 

[Liam92]

Battersey Power Station has held a few extreme sports festivals - the Redbull X-Fighters (motorbikes etc), a snowboarding/Skiing thing on artificical slopes/snow etc. It may be easier to get hold that rather than near the London Eye, especailly since the Met police may get a bit ansty about having things that look similar to firearms in such a public place close to/in the Government Secure zone. Horse Guards Parade would be a great location, but seriously unlikely.

One of the major parks may be a good idea. If Hyde park can fit in concerts etc, paintball may be doable.

This is the reason for first contacting the relevant authorities to okay everything. If LMS gets approval to run a paintball festival at the london eye, then we should take full advantage of that because everything will be approved beforehand. its not like a bunch of paintballers turning up on the day and pitching a field because then the Met would be justified in saying something.

 

[Niall W]

If possible, the embankment near the London eye is perfect: Central and always busy. The main aim of something like this is to increase the profile of the sport to the general public ( I presume), and therefore you want as much foot traffic and possible spectators as possible.

Battersea and other places suggested would be amazing venues for events, but would Joe public go out of his or her way to get the tube there? Probably not.

Maxiumum exposure means maximum public contact, and thus as close to central as you can wangle, I guess

 

[odins-sidekick]

Battersea power station would be a great place to put it, easy train links from Victoria station, and they've held a huge snowboard/ski event there for the last few years with traders having stalls there, aswell as video game launches there like mw3 and FIFA 13.
It's a bit more out of the way but still accessible, and its always great to see something happening there when your on the train.

 

[The Zambezi Kid]

I'm not saying by the London Eye is a bad idea, just that it may be challenging to get approval. I'd go to the Met Police first and ask them if they are happy in principle, where would be acceptable etc before sounding out venues.

 

[Hazza]

I would pick the london eye, as for carparks a 10 minute walks not too bad? If we have the tents up along the side if you do do it near a venue though itd be better if theyre was a private bit for all the players as itd be very hard for the players to be ready if they have to squeeze around spectators to fill up their air or pack etc also alot of gear would go missing if the public could go near the players tents

 

[Hazza]

*could

 

[Liam92]

I would pick the london eye, as for carparks a 10 minute walks not too bad? If we have the tents up along the side if you do do it near a venue though itd be better if theyre was a private bit for all the players as itd be very hard for the players to be ready if they have to squeeze around spectators to fill up their air or pack etc also alot of gear would go missing if the public could go near the players tents

i'm sure this would be ran just like any other high standard tournament with pits for teams and access to the field restricted to players only.

 

[Tony Harrison]

Exactly, Liam - I would invite the very best to take care of that, if they are available and wanted to do it.

Regarding location, my gut feeling is that we should go with South Bank or Hyde Park, for maximum exposure.

I'll get back in touch with Boris re Hyde Park and let you know.