Reflecting on Roundhay Festival

Two weeks on, Showsec reflect on a successful weekend as security partner for the first American Express Roundhay Festival. Being a brand new event, all operational processes had to be strong and adaptable, and Showsec are proud to have played our part in establishing crowd management procedures for nearly 70,000 attendees each day.

The development of security operations for Roundhay started months before the event itself, with Showsec maintaining a continuous presence at the site for a month before guests’ first entry into the festival. Showsec were involved from the beginning, forming part of the wider event construction and allowing procedures and infrastructure to be built alongside the festival itself.

Our extensive experience working alongside other major festivals was drawn upon for the design and implementation of security and crowd management processes at Roundhay, and we’re thrilled to have been part of a huge milestone for Leeds’ festival scene.

Philip Hulme, Operations Supervisor for Leeds, said this about establishing security procedures for a brand-new festival:

“Working with LS Events on Roundhay Festival has been a genuinely enjoyable experience. From the very beginning, we were all part of one team, working towards the same goal of delivering something special for the people of Leeds.

As this was the inaugural event, there was a huge amount of hard work behind the scenes, and seeing colleagues travel from all corners of the UK – from the South Coast to Aberdeen – really showed the commitment and passion everyone brought to the project. The professionalism, attention to detail and willingness to work together made the whole process feel seamless.”

The successful delivery of Roundhay Festival was the result of months of planning, strong stakeholder collaboration and the expertise of our dedicated teams operating on the ground. By providing a scalable and responsive security operation throughout the weekend, Showsec helped create the conditions for a safe, well-managed event and another successful addition to the UK’s summer festival calendar.