Waiving the £20 entrance fee for its opening day, dmg Antiques Fairs – who have invested over £250,000 in the promotion of the new dates – say an estimated 5100 registered buyers walked through the gates on Thursday February 3. That made it the best-ever attended Newark trade day and close to twice the number of visitors through the door at the equivalent event last year.
Friday was quieter but nearly 2000 new tickets were sold (a further 1500 returned for the second day) and a busy Saturday saw 5000 members of the public through the door.
The gate, and the return of an opening-day buzz that had been lacking in recent times, helped quiet much of the consternation and anger evident at October’s Newark fair when the new dates – and the dates of the rival fair at nearby RAF Swinderby – were announced.
Feedback was generally positive, although some dealers continue to wrestle with the new schedule and say the litmus test will be when entrance charges return later in the year.
Senior fairs manager Alan Yourston commented: “We appreciate that not everyone welcomed the changes, but we hope that last week’s fair has gone some way to illustrate the new format can work. We are delighted with the way the fair went and the positive feedback we have received, but there are definitely things we need to tweak and improve.”
There are two main questions for the organisers to consider: can they get buyers in earlier and can they persuade standholders to stay until gates open to the public on Saturday?
The majority of complaints came from buyers and related to the time delay between the opening of the gates to sellers on Thursday morning and to buyers several hours later.
In reality this represents a marked improvement upon the previous arrangement – when illicit Sunday night trading before ticket-paying buyers were onsite was difficult to police – inter-standholder dealing as buyers queued was more conspicuous.
Inside the showground the general consensus was that the setting up was smooth and efficient (most standholders appreciated the time to set up in relative peace at a sociable hour of the day) and gates were open to buyers from 11.30am rather than waiting until noon as originally planned.
The second new-format fair takes place from Thursday April 7 to Saturday April 9 and once again trade buyers will be able to pre-register for free entry on Thursday and discounted entry on Friday and Saturday. For the June and August fairs registered buyers can enjoy half-price (£10) entry on the Thursday, discounted entry of £7.50 on Friday (normal price £10) and discounted entry of £3 on Saturday (normal price £5).
Free ticket offer packs new look Newark fair
THERE was an unprecedented attendance at the February Newark fair as buyers took advantage of a free ticket offer to experience the fair’s new three-day format.
