EVENT: LED ZEPPELIN Listening party London - 56%

One of our first event reviews comes in the form of an exclusive listening party for a new release by Led Zeppelin. The event took place in a flagship HMV store on Oxford Street and was to consist of 8 unreleased and previously unheard tracks from the forthcoming remasters collection. You can read more about the releases here . 

This particular event was hosted by TeamRock.com and Nicky Horne took to the mic in order to begin proceedings. Disappointingly Jimmy Page was not in attendance and therefore, despite Horne's best efforts, it was a decidedly flat start to the evening. Nevertheless free, poor-tasting, wholesale beer and wine was on offer, possibly in the hope we would overlook the fact we were stood in an empty room above a shop, staring at an empty stage with speaker stacks dominating the eye line.

So, with middle aged folk standing around, mostly chatting, the eight so-called 'rare' tracks played out one at a time. On the whole it was a relatively painless experience, but it certainly was not inspiring. The cuts sounded similar to those bootleg, semi-pro recordings littered on YouTube which you tend to pass over with a click of the mouse. The best of the eight in my opinion was the stripped down, catchy, acoustic rendition of 'Gallows Pole' which highlighted the work of the late, great, John Bonham. 

Overall, it wasn't much of an 'event' and the generally atmosphere was uninspiring and lack-lustre. However it wasn't until the final words uttered by a chap in the music industry were heard that the evening took an immediate dive into unforgivable. As a thank you for making the effort in coming along, HMV were rewarding us with one of their own loyalty cards free of charge and we were encouraged to go downstairs and pre-order the album from the store. The groans and jeers were evident and this was quite a kick in the teeth for us all. In addition, we were reminded the bar was almost dry and that we should exit within the next ten minutes. 

Review score sheet:

Hospitality: 4

Environment: 5

Facilities: 4

Experience: 5

Price: N/A

Percentage score rating: 56%

A rainy May and a love for Twitter

Although it is less than reassuring that despite promises of a heatwave to mark the start of the Great British Summer, we are still in the shadows of dreary skies and less than inspiring downpours, we remaining ever hopeful. Surrey still manages to look quite appealing whilst drenched - a feat which not all counties can pull off successfully. 

Nevertheless, I digress slightly as here at Surrey Businesses we have developed  a fondness for Twitter. We have made some excellent contacts and friends through the power of networking on the move. If you haven't already followed us, please do at Surrey Businesses - we update our page regularly and in the coming months we will provide additional exposure and spotlighting for local companies, businesses, events or institutions representing Surrey in a positive and commendable manner.

A trip to Pirbright in Surrey

There is nothing quite like the summer sun to give you the perfect reason to get out and explore the local area. Today we found ourselves in the beautiful village of Pirbright, where the local cricket match was in full swing (pardon the awkward pun) and the ducks graced the sun-kissed banks. We heard that Merrist Wood had opened it's doors nearby and what a fantastic day to enjoy the grounds. Whilst we were not in attendance, we did follow the social media buzz around the event.

We hope you all had a wonderful day also.

Surrey Businesses go live on Blogger.com

Since creating the Surrey Businesses website (visit here) we have been contacted by numerous individuals and businesses to review and promote all manner of goods, products, venues, events and of course food and drink. 

Whilst at first it appeared to be a relatively flooded market, the opportunity to provide honest reviews of local business is something we were keen to offer and explore further.

If you wish to have one of the aforementioned areas reviewed in connection with your business, institution or personal endeavour, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

You can find our contact information here: Contact

Or you may wish to get in touch on Twitter or Facebook 

Many thanks for reading our first post. Please share this Blog to friends, family and your network of Bloggers and we'll aim to update this as regularly as we can.