Regional Fairs

The small town of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire is the perfect pitstop for antiques and vintage buyers, particularly the trade.

Charles Dickens spent a great many chapters of his life in Kent, and had much to say about the Medway towns including Faversham, where he described “the queer little market square... the lop-sided little town hall with its big-faced clock and supporting pillars forming a little arcade, in which probably the merchants of Faversham do congregate”.

Jackie Edwards of ACVR Events has added an 11th event to her portfolio of markets in Surrey, Hampshire and west Berkshire.

Focus on two events at the start of next month that offer an array of options for distinctive decorations

Blackdog Events is confident its new fair at a Norfolk racecourse is in the running to be a success.

For Emma and Steve Cooper of Haddon Events, their calendar is a whirlwind of events in Essex, Hertfordshire and Greater London including antiques and vintage fairs, vintage fashion fairs, classic car and country shows and a community street event.

With Helen and Alan Yourston handing on their Malvern events, we take a look back at the story so far

B2B Events has handed over the running of its fairs held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern to a newly formed company, B2B Fairs, owned by Debra Scadding and Sue McIntosh.

Fairs may be hit by snow and other weather hazards but stallholders and intrepid buyers try to carry on regardless.

Words like ‘excellent growth, full house and waiting lists’ are music to any fair organiser’s ears.

English-born dealers living in France are coming over to stand at the Malvern Flea Fairs which is good news, not least as they offer stock not seen on the market before, says Helen Yourston of B2B Events.

The fair held at a folk art musuem proved useful for dealers to encounter regular clients as well as new faces

Prices frozen for pre-booked pitches at Kempton Park Racecourse for fourth year running

The Times recently ran a feature on seven of the most atmospheric towns in the UK in which to do your Christmas shopping for one-off gifts, maybe combining this joysome activity with a weekend break. Here are some art and antiques options in two of them, Ludlow in Shropshire and Frome in Somerset.

To help raise funds for a flood appeal at the West Midlands Showground in Shrewsbury, local fair organisers Emma and Oli Jones, aka JOS Events held a special ‘yard’ sale there earlier this month.

Running in Chichester on December 3 is Grandma’s Attic Fairs’ antiques and vintage fair at the Westgate Leisure Centre.

The Vintage and Very Nice Market is held monthly in the pleasant surroundings of the 18th century Assembly Rooms in Chichester.

When he launched his midweek antiques fair in the Northumberland market town of Hexham in 1991, Colin Caygill told the manager of the Wentworth Leisure Centre where it was held that “he would give it a go for three or four months”.

Two popular fairs are running in November and December in the Suffolk village of Long Melford which also offers three antiques businesses as an extra draw for buyers to part with their cash in a pre-Christmas splash.

Among the sales at the recent Northern Antiques Fair was a painting by Lucy Harwood (1873-1972) offered on the stand of first time exhibitor Bink Fine Art. The decorative oil, Summer, sold for a price in the region of £4000-5000.