The Non-Boring Guide to Corporate Team Building at Empress Hall

Let’s be completely honest: nobody wants to do another trust fall or personality test in a cramped office breakout room while staring at a whiteboard.

If you want your team to actually talk to each other - and maybe even like each other - you need to get them out of the office. Welcome to Empress Hall, a luxury 10-bedroom retreat that trades fluorescent office lights for a private cinema, a games room, and a cocktail bar.

If you are planning a mid-week corporate getaway, skip the standard corporate slide decks.Here’s five things to do at Empress Hall to build team connection and get your staff raving about how good it is at your company! 

1. The Cinema Room: The Leadership Seminar

Gather the team into our ultra-plush private cinema room, turn on the popcorn machine, and dim the lights. Pop on Horrible Bosses or The Office, and have the team take notes on what not to do. This activity is a masterclass in reverse psychology - if your team can point out why micromanagement is a crime, and bond over previous poor bosses (none at your company, obv!), then your culture is safe for another quarter. Plus, popcorn!

Cinema Room at Empress Hall - complete with popcorn machine and drinks trolley

2. The Cocktail Bar: The Corporate Mixology Challenge

In small groups, invent a signature corporate cocktail (or mocktail) that represents your company’s core values or targets. Have fun watching Joan from accounts defend why you HAVE to have grenadine to represent “on time, under budget”. And the best part is, you can drink the results - and the mistakes! 

The Cocktail Bar at Empress Hall

3. The Karaoke Room: The Vulnerability Test

Fire up the karaoke machine and party jukebox, and play “song roulette”! The junior team members choose the songs for the leadership team - AND the singing style. Forces bonding, collaboration, and there’s nothing that creates psychological safely quite like watching your CFO massacre Livin on a Prayer. If anyone’s really struggling, we recommend a duet. A fantastic team building exercise for after the Mixology challenge. 

Music Room at Empress Hall with Jukebox and Karaoke

4. The Kitchen: The 'Mystery Box' Cook-Off

Add one of our fabulous private chefs to your booking, and enjoy a high stakes culinary battle. Our chef will provide a mystery box of ingredients, you provide a (fictional? hopefully!) customer complaint, and your teams have to work together to share the space and delegate tasks to create a themed (bitter client anyone?) meal. The chef will offer guidance and do his best Gordon Ramsay judging impression after.

The stunning Kitchen at Empress Hall

5. The Games Room: The Relay Tournament

Unleash their competitive spirits in our games room, loaded with a pool table, air hockey, table football, and a retro Pac-Man machine. Split into teams, run a rapid relay tournament across the different tables. Which of your team is the strategic thinker, who cracks under the pressure, and who is the best cheerleader? 

Pool Table and Foosball Table in the Games Room at Empress Hall

Book Your Mid-Week Corporate Team Building Escape

Empress Hall sleeps up to 20 guests across 10 uniquely styled luxury bedrooms, making it the perfect size for an exclusive corporate takeover. Swap the Zoom background for a real-life luxury venue - and if you have to do a presentation - at least the team can sit round our massive dining table comfortably!

Check our mid-week availability and book your corporate team-building retreat today.