Paul Hollywood’s British Baking Live Venue Cymru, Llandudno Review
Paul Hollywood’s
British Baking Live
Venue Cymru, Llandudno
4 December 2014
Reviewed by Laura Fairbairn
I was delighted when I was told I had the opportunity to review Paul Hollywood’s British Baking Live Tour at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales – I am a bit of a foodie and like many others had watched the latest Bake Off with keen interest, so with those two things in mind I thought it would be a great night.
For those not local to the area, a visit to Venue Cymru may involve the use of a car so it is important to be aware of the parking facilities. There is free parking available on some of the surrounding roads, but when I arrived at about 6:50pm there were no spaces to be found, undoubtedly because Llandudno is a hub of North Wales tourism so there is always more than just locals looking to park. However, I had no trouble at all finding a space to park in the car park to the rear of the theatre and from 6pm – 9am it costs only £1.10 to park for any length of time – in my opinion, far more reasonable than other venues I have visited.
The venue itself is quite modern with clean and contemporary décor throughout. The box office is immediately noticeable upon entry and it much larger than many other theatres which makes things so much easier if you have to collect your tickets on the night of the performance. The toilet facilities were very busy and not particularly spacious, but in my experience this is perfectly normal for a theatre and unlike other places I have visited the facilities here were very clean, so no complaints! There was a selection of snacks and drinks available to take into the performance with you – not particularly cheap, but in line with other theatres and it was nice to see a varied selection. The staff that I met we all very pleasant, friendly, helpful and (very importantly) well informed. I didn’t have the chance to sample the menu in the restaurant, but it looked very attractive and I would definitely be happy to go back in the future to try this out!
I was very impressed with the quality of the set – it can’t be easy to set up (and dismantle) a clean and fully functional kitchen every night. The set filled the stage, looked very clean and was pleasantly decorated whilst being functional for the purpose it was designed. The space was also well used throughout the night by Paul and his team.
There were four main recipes demonstrated during the evening – a yummy looking chocolate orange roulade, a baked brie (that not only took the theatre by storm but seems to have done the same at every venue Paul has visited), a walnut and stilton bread as well as some exceptionally tasty looking minced pies. I believe most of the recipes demonstrated on the tour are available in the programme (which is sold for £10 before, during and after the performance), but the baked brie is available in Paul’s latest book which I will shortly be purchasing myself for that very recipe!
As well as the very tempting dishes that were created on the night, there was a lot of comedy from Paul and Alex (who supported Paul throughout the evening). Paul spent a lot of time in the North Wales area growing up so had a lot of stories to tell that enabled him to relate to the majority of the audience very well and Alex appears to be naturally funny and had the interest of the audience from the start. There was a lot of interaction with the crowd throughout the evening which really made everyone feel involved. A one point Paul was answering questions that had been sent to him via Twitter during the interval and I was delighted when he chose to answer mine about how to stop raspberries sinking to the bottom of a sponge cake!
I had a fabulous evening and wouldn’t hesitate to go to his next tour! If you get the chance to go to this one then you should definitely take it!
I have no problem at all giving this 5/5 stars!
Rating: 5/5 
For more information and tour dates visit www.paulhollywood.kililive.com.
Venue Cymru, The Promenade, Llandudno, Conwy, LL30 1BB | 01492 872000
