THE King’s Centre in West Oxford is developing a growing reputation for staging major corporate events - alongside hosting community groups - and has ambitious plans for growth in 2018.

Situated on the Osney Mead industrial estate, the conference and events centre is used to hosting major corporate events, including the Oxfordshire Business Awards, Business in Oxford, and Venturefest.

In the summer it hosted several Westgate Centre retailers, including John Lewis, who used the venue as a staff training and recruitment hub.

And in November 6,000 Oxfordshire school children visited over three days for the educational Safe Drive Stay Alive event, which provided hard-hitting road safety messages.

As well as big corporate events the King’s Centre hosts numerous individual companies for meetings and away days, trade organisations, concerts and even Asian wedding receptions and university examinations.

On Christmas Day it hosted an annual lunch run by Oxford Food Bank.

This year more than 500 people packed out the hall to share the community spirit, including some 200 Syrian refugees, homeless people and 150 volunteers.

Organiser at Oxford Food Bank Sara Strong said that this year’s charity event had been the biggest in its history.

A Syrian family from Banbury and some from Witney were among those who attended, with volunteers picking people up from the Aspire Oxford charity.

The building is owned by Oxfordshire Community Churches and all of the profits from hiring out venue space is invested in the upkeep of the building, supports charitable work and helps to fund community groups, associations and charity events using the centre.

General manager Michelle Fernandez said: “It’s a careful juggling act, but overall we strike the right balance between running the centre as a commercial enterprise and serving the community.

“There’s certainly never a dull moment at the King’s Centre and the team enjoys the variety of people and events we host.

“We pride ourselves on serving our clients well, giving sound advice and support and making everyone feel welcome, whether it’s a major blue-chip company, or a community group, it’s home from home for everyone.”

Ms Fernandez added: “We have ambitious growth plans for 2018, we aim to develop more partnerships and facilitate more Asian weddings, university examinations, major conferences and corporate training days and dinners.”

The King’s Centre is the largest conference and events facility in Oxford, with two large rooms which can host 1,000 people seated. There are eight additional smaller rooms.

“We have 30,000 square feet of space, so we’re flexible in what we can offer,” added Ms Fernandez.

“Many clients hire rooms for small meetings, or away days, they’re all fully equipped and we also have an in-house catering team.

“We’re the biggest venue, but we also like to think we have the biggest hearts.

“When organisations use the King’s Centre they’re directly investing in their community, which is incredibly powerful.

“The more commercial bookings we take the more we can make a difference in Oxfordshire.”

The King’s Centre has invested in community projects at Tyndale Community School and at The Kings School, Witney.

It hosts Family Fun, a regular group for parents with young children, monthly community events and Rainbows, Brownies, and Guides.

Kirsty Gay, Community and Development Manager, said: “My role is to manage the balance between the church and the business and to act as a community ambassador.

“We strive to be a beacon in the community and to give back as much as we can, but of course it has to be balanced with commercial reality. The centre is used by the church for worship on Sundays and we have some fixed weekly slots where community groups use rooms.We want to be a place where people come together, learn, grow and support each other.”