Edinburgh Corn Exchange

You can take a single conference suite for a meeting or the whole building for a dinner, launch or exhibition, and the venue says every room has its own entrance, cloakroom and private bar, so your guests never share a corridor or a bar queue with another booking. Edinburgh Corn Exchange is a category A listed neoclassical building in ashlar stone, opened as a grain trading hall on 23 June 1910 and now run as a concert and events venue on New Market Road, about 2.5 miles southwest of the city centre in Slateford.

Event spaces and capacities

You get a choice of scale under one roof. The venue describes its building as two large theatre spaces, a large concourse, several conference suites and a separate rock bar, and says the spaces can run on their own or be linked into a multi-room format, with natural light in its rooms. Its photographs show the main hall set for gala dinners and a conference room with a curved, lit ceiling set cabaret style facing a screen.

The venue does not publish room names, floor areas or capacities by layout on its website. It offers a downloadable venue brochure through a request form on its brochure page, so we have not printed a capacity table here. Ask the sales team for the figures for your layout before you shortlist.

Getting there and parking

Your delegates can arrive by train without crossing the city centre. The venue says Slateford station is on its doorstep, with trains taking about 11 minutes from Edinburgh Waverley and four minutes from Haymarket. It lists Lothian bus routes 4, 34, 35, 44, N33 and 300 from the south and 3, 25, 30, 33, 38, N25, N28, N30, X27 and X28 from the north.

Drivers come in on the A70 or A71, the Edinburgh City Bypass and the M8 or M9. The venue has no car park of its own and says on-street parking nearby is limited, so it recommends public transport. There is a drop-off point at the main entrance on New Market Road.

Catering, AV and accommodation

You deal with one in-house team for food and drink. The venue says it provides catering and bar facilities itself, can help with menus, themes and entertainment, and describes its hire team as award-winning. It does not publish an AV or production specification for conference hire, although its photographs show the main hall with a concert stage and lighting rig. Enquiries go through a form, and the office works Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and asks for up to two business days to reply.

Access for your guests

The building dates from the early 1900s and the venue is open about the limits. The pavement is flush with the main entrance, there is an accessible toilet at the rear of the auditorium and radar key toilets elsewhere, but there is no lift, and the balcony is reached by about 14 steps. It works with Attitude Is Everything and Nimbus Disability, accepts the Access Card, welcomes assistance dogs, and asks for 31 days’ notice to book a BSL interpreter. Slateford station has an induction loop but no step-free access to its platforms.

What to ask before you book

• Which rooms does your event need, and what are their published capacities for your layout, since the venue gives these only in its brochure?
• If you book one suite while a concert is on in the main hall, how are your entrance, cloakroom and bar kept separate, and what are the curfew and sound arrangements?
• Which rooms are on upper floors, given there is no lift, and where can a wheelchair user sit for a seated dinner or a theatre-style session?
• With no venue car park, can the team recommend coach drop-off times and nearby parking for exhibitors bringing stands and stock?
• What AV, staging and lighting is included in a conference hire of the main hall, and what is charged as extra production?

Who runs the venue

Edinburgh Corn Exchange is the trading name of Academy Music Group Limited (company number 3463738), registered in England and Wales at 211 Stockwell Road, London SW9 9SL. Its site carries the Live Nation group sustainability charter, which aims to halve scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030; no event sustainability certificate is listed.

Related on Events Review

• Conference venues in Edinburgh
• Conference and exhibition venues
• Edinburgh International Conference Centre
• Murrayfield Stadium
• John McIntyre Conference Centre
• Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
• Surgeons Quarter
• Assembly Rooms Edinburgh
• Dynamic Earth
• Choose the venue around the event, not the headline capacity
• Turn venue accessibility claims into a usable event plan

Sources: venue hire, corporate hire, about us, history, getting here, accessibility, FAQs and sustainability charter on edinburghcornexchange.co.uk, checked 5 November 2026.