Bournemouth International Centre

At Bournemouth International Centre (the BIC) you can stage a conference, exhibition, banquet or awards night across four halls with 5,798 m2 of space and 15 equipped break-out rooms, in the centre of Bournemouth. You can also hire the whole building, which the operator says can take up to 10,000 conference delegates. The multi-purpose building also stages concerts, comedy and boxing. It is run by BH Live, a registered charity and social enterprise, in partnership with BCP Council, and BH Live also operates Fairfield Halls in Croydon.

Four halls to suit your layout

You can choose from four event halls: Windsor, Tregonwell, Solent and Purbeck. Windsor is the largest, Tregonwell has two floor levels, Solent looks over Bournemouth Bay and Purbeck is round. You can brand the foyer for arrivals, and the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre and Ballroom is offered as a sister venue. Free Wi-Fi runs throughout the building, with an enhanced service on request.

Windsor Hall gives you 2,025 m2 with air conditioning, a D&B sound system and an optional stage. Its lower tiered seating retracts level with the upper circle to free more floor for exhibitions and gala dinners. The published capacities for Windsor Hall are:

Layout	Windsor Hall capacity
Theatre	4,000
Reception	2,500
Banquet	960
Classroom	800
Cabaret	776

In-house services and a recommended stand supplier

You can keep audio-visual and catering in-house and order your stand through one recommended supplier. The in-house audio-visual team handles pre-production. Stand design, shell scheme builds and exhibition electrics come through The Intershell Group, the BIC’s recommended supplier, which the venue says works on more than 300 UK exhibitions a year and supplies floor plans, furniture, floor coverings, poster boards and graphics. You and your delegates get free Wi-Fi for browsing and email, while a permanent internet line or premium multi-user Wi-Fi is arranged through the events coordinator. Every visitor is searched before entry. Our guides to choosing shell scheme or space only and planning stand delivery and installation cover the practical steps.

Recent business events at the BIC

You can judge the BIC by its recent business events. From 23 to 27 August 2026 it hosted the European Conference on Visual Perception, organised from Bournemouth University’s School of Psychology, which drew more than 700 researchers, academics and students from 364 institutions in 41 countries. The venue also reports hosting the TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference 2026 and a Festival of Humanism with more than 600 delegates. Trade events elsewhere are listed in our UK shows calendar.

Parking, buses and rail near the venue

You can park at the BIC itself or in two car parks close by. Drivers from the north and west take the A338 Wessex Way from the A31 junction at Ashley Heath, near Ringwood, to Bournemouth West Roundabout, then follow brown signs to the BIC’s car park, off the roundabout at the bottom of Priory Road. That cashless multi-storey has 644 spaces, including 35 accessible bays on levels 1 to 3, and a 2 m height limit. Winter Gardens car park opposite has 250 spaces behind a 2.1 m barrier, and Bournemouth Pavilion on Westover Road has 165 spaces with no height limit. A lay-by at the front is used for drop-offs.

If you come by bus, the nearest stop, Bournemouth Pier, is about 82 m away, with Beacon Road, Westover Road and Bournemouth Square stops all within about an eight-minute walk. Bournemouth railway station is 1.3 miles away, roughly 28 minutes on foot. The venue says thousands of hotel beds are a short distance away.

Step-free access for you and your visitors

You and your visitors get step-free routes from the car park and the pavement to the front doors, where the left-hand entrance is power assisted. Escalators and a 110 cm lift reach the upper level, seven accessible toilets are spread over every floor, and a Changing Places room with a hoist sits on the ground floor near Doors 3 and 4.

Comparing venues

If you are weighing other exhibition venues in the United Kingdom outside London, you can also consider Westpoint Exeter, ICC Wales, Brighton Centre further east along the south coast, Farnborough International in Hampshire and Harrogate Convention Centre.

Source: bic.co.uk/conference, bic.co.uk/conferencing/windsor-hall, bic.co.uk/conferencing/event-services, bic.co.uk/visit/access