Fairs, Markets, Shops and Centres

The lone swimmer at the Brockwell Lido pictured here appears oblivious to what’s going on alongside the walkways.

Artist Mel Winning runs a reclamation business in the medieval market town of Manningtree in Essex.

The third Great Tisbury Brocante will run on the spring bank holiday, Monday, May 7, all through the streets of the Wiltshire town.

Eight years ago textiles dealers Liz van Hasselt and Clare Powell came up with the idea of holding a monthly vintage bazaar in the Somerset market town of Frome, which has a cluster of vintage shops on Catherine Hill.

Keeley Harris of Discover Vintage launched the ambitious Festival of Vintage at York Racecourse in 2011 and each year the line-up gets bigger.

Celebrated in the thoroughly modern way with a Google Doodle on April 3 on what would have been his 325th birthday was John Harrison.

A reminder of a fair we previewed in January: Caroline Brown’s second vintage furniture and homewares fair takes place on Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29.

Organiser of new Surrey event pleased at positive reaction and trader response.

Steve Cooper of Haddon Events is such a keen supporter of the Museum of Power at Maldon in Essex that he holds a biannual antiques and collectors’ fair at the venue.

Neil Packer’s day job as a warehouse manager may seem tame compared to his out-of-hours activities.

The designer Emma Bridgewater began experimenting with what are now her signature sponge-painted ceramics in the bedroom of a former squat in Brixton.

One of the best-known faces on the fairs circuit is Matthew Adams, who has organised for nearly 40 years a monthly antiques fair at the Royal Horticultural Fair in London.

New on the block is the Reclaimed Home Fair, running on Saturday, April 14, at the town hall in Chipping Norton.

One of the aspects of the antiques fairs which are so much a part of the trade’s lifeblood is often their sheer longevity.

In answer to the question “why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” mountaineer George Mallory, who died on it in 1924, famously replied “because it’s there”.

The panel of kantha stitching from West Bengal shown below will be for sale with dealer Jennifer Evans, aka Jenpatola, for £79 at The Textile Society’s antique and vintage textile fair at the Armitage Centre in Manchester on Sunday April 15.

The first civic event in the St Andrews Hall in Norwich took place in 1544. Five centuries later, the City Antiques Fair and Fleamarket runs monthly in the medieval surroundings of the Grade I-listed hall.

Dealer Chris Brown is a busy man. A specialist in Poole pottery, for a start he organises the twice-yearly dedicated sale at Cottees Auctions in Poole, Dorset.

The Easter holiday weekend is one of the busiest in the fairs and markets calendar and organisers will be offering up a prayer to the gods for good weather, particularly those who run showground events.

Easter fairs and markets around the UK over the Easter weekend.