Conference and Meeting venues in Darlington

An attractive market town in the Tees Valley on the border between County Durham and North Yorkshire, Darlington is an excellent choice of destination for conferences, meetings and events.


The river and surrounding countryside provide opportunities for adventurous teambuilding events and corporate activities whilst the town itself offers a variety of conference venues able to cater for all needs, ranging from historic venues to modern conference centres. Known as the birthplace of the railways, the town is rich in history and charm and provides an accessible location for business meetings and corporate events.

Darlington is easy to reach via the A1(M) and A66(M), via good rail links including high speed trains to London Kings Cross, and via flights into Durham Tees Valley or Newcastle airports for international conference delegates.

Sporting venue The Darlington Arena is home to Darlington FC and offers 3 main conference and banqueting rooms alongside 4 smaller meeting rooms and several executive boxes, with maximum capacity for 220 delegates. Sedgefield Racecourse is another sporting venue experienced in hosting corporate events including conferences, exhibitions, training and teambuilding events, weddings and banquets. Academic venues include Darlington College of Technology and Darlington Educational Village which offers several conference and exhibition spaces including the 300sqm large hall, the 594sqm sports hall plus several smaller spaces also suited to conferences, meetings, exhibitions, training events and weddings. The Dolphin Centre has undergone vast refurbishment although retaining its historic charm and provides several meeting spaces including the chandeliered ballroom with capacity for 450 delegates and the main hall which accommodates 1,200 delegates. Darlington Civic Theatre and Arts Centre are cultural historic venues again providing versatile conference space, whilst Head of Steam is Darlington’s railway museum which offers an unusual venue for conferences and banqueting for up to 60 delegates. Darlington hotels offer conferencing facilities including Headlam Hall, a delightful country house hotel with extensive grounds ideal for teambuilding events and several elegant conference suites, and Rockliffe Hall which offers a tranquil setting for business and pleasure with 8 meeting rooms having capacity for up to 250 delegates. Blackwell Grange Hotel and Hall Garth Hotel are also exceptional examples of conference-minded hotels providing the latest facilities in historic settings.