Simple. Crystal Palace was an OK venue, but there was nothing to do of an evening locally. Basildon has loads of facilities less than 5 minutes away from the site with plenty of things to keep us 'ballers amused over the weekend. Clubs, pubs, restaurants, cinema, bowling alley and arcades are all located 5 minutes away at the Festival Leisure Park. There is also 2 hotels in Festival Leisure too.
I did prepare a long post but it bombed out... The main points were...
1. Access - CP is a nightmare. Basildon is with 15 minutes of two major junctions on the M25 on a dual carriageway. It's also with 1 hour of two main London airports. It's not too far from Dover and Heathrow either and it's rail access is also very good with two seperate London bound lines.
2. Facilities for Apres Play as Paul has metioned above. Hotels around CP are of a very poor standard for their price and the better standrd hotels were a 15 minute drive in theory but coudl take 40 minutes! There was none of the usual paintball camaraderie in the evenings as you never bumped into other ballers (although some would say this is a good thing). Incidentally there are three hotels on the Festival park and 6 more withing a REAL 5 minute drive. Millennium codes will be published soon on the website to get discounts on booking.
3. Security - need say no more on CP regarding this subject!
4. Trade area - at CP we were restricted slightly by what we could do. This venue gives us much more space.
In respect of promotion the music festival this year that is being held in conjunction with the Tourney attracts 25,000 people. Asside from that the local Newspapers have already ran a story and a follow up planned for closer to the time. Local Radio and the bars & clubs are also being talked with at the moment. The time to hit the advertising campaign is 2 weeks prior to the event - any longer than that and you become just another double glazing advert!
