City firms coy about details of their Christmas parties

Venturi's Table organised Christmas parties for 97 companies with several banks imposing a confidentiality agreement

Fears of a public backlash prompted many firms to compel event organisers to keep details of their lavish Christmas parties a secret. Photograph: Rex Features

It is usually a cause for celebration, but this year many firms were eager to keep their Christmas corporate bonding out of the news.

For fear of provoking a public backlash, almost one third of the companies booking £150-a-head cookery parties with West London based Venturi's Table asked the firm for written confirmation that the booking would be kept confidential.

More than half these were banks. Some even requested formal confidentiality agreements. Almost one in two City firms , and 31% of companies overall, insisted on secrecy, for example wanting assurances they would not be listed on the cookery centre's website. Last year, fewer than one in ten companies thought it necessary.

Anna Venturi, owner of the corporate cookery centre, said: "Last year there was a lot of talk about the banking crisis but nobody thought there was a problem about having a party. Now, clients want to keep it quiet, particularly the banks. They don't want it known that a lot of employees are letting their hair down, being silly, drinking and doing things which are seen as politically incorrect. Companies don't want to show they are spending a lot of money."

The centre has several kitchens where over the afternoon separate parties are given cookery lessons, then they eat and drink.

Venturi said that the demand for discretion went as far as companies not wanting signs posted outside kitchens indicating who the booking is for, in case revellers from the adjacent kitchen find out. This is particularly sensitive in the case of banks, which are under intense public and political pressure to cut back on bonuses and other forms of excess following their taxpayer-funded bail-outs. Banks are worried that workers from rival firms might leak details of such parties to the media, Venturi added.

One anonymous City firm emailed the company: "My Managing Director, xxxx ( and the host for the event) has told me to make sure our event is not mentioned to press. It is very important as stakeholders have been told we have stopped internal hospitality for a while but we felt it was important for our staff."

Another company making a booking insisted: "Hi, just a quick note to say that we would like to keep our Christmas party booking confidential. Please can you confirm in writing this will not be disclosed in any way eg: in any press materials or on your website. Sure you understand that spending on events is still a sensitive issue and so we would prefer to keep this under wraps. Once you can confirm this I will organise signing of the event agreement and payment of the deposit. "

Of the 97 Christmas parties hosted by Venturi's Table this year, 56 were for City companies. In total, 30 of the bookings asked the firm to sign a confidentiality agreement about their event or asked for this to be confirmed in writing by email. Some 26 of the companies that asked the cookery firm to sign confidentiality agreements were from the City, with 16 were from the banking industry, two were telecoms firms, three involved in the public sector and five were construction companies.