Next year the organiser opens an antiques and collectors’ fair in Kent, restarts an earlier fair in North London and this month adds a fleamarket to an existing event at the Suffolk Showground.
Sheridan’s new one-day fair to be held triannually in 2018, with the first on Sunday, March 18, is at the Dover Cruise Terminal which welcomes 20 individual cruise lines and 200,000 passengers annually.
He said: “I chose this venue as it’s a great location with easy access to the M20, just off the A20 and 10 minutes from the Dover/Calais Ferry Terminal which means easy access for European dealers.
“Exhibitors can drive in to the building, unload and then park beside the building which has a different kind of atmosphere to the regular fair venues.”
He added: “The listed Marine Station building is historic. It was built in 1914 as a boat-train terminal and was used extensively during the First World War to receive injured troops.”
The train terminal closed in 1994, the track was filled in and renamed Dover Cruise Terminal 1. The fair will be held here using 163m of the 236m-long building, with Sheridan hoping for 200 stallholders.
At the same time, and after an absence of 15 years, GNB Fairs is relaunching its antiques and collectors’ fair at the rebuilt Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Edmonton, London N8, near the A406 North Circular Road.
Formerly known as Picketts Lock, a fair was held monthly here for many years until the building was demolished, reopening in 2007 with the new name.
The event will feature antiques, vintage, retro and collectables and, said Sheridan: “Rather uniquely, the fair will be staged in the middle of the vast arena which houses a 200m indoor running track. We will have two fairs here in 2018, with the first on Sunday, April 15. For the keen exhibitor there will be a large early booking discount.”
Running this weekend, on Sunday, November 19, is GNB’s new Big Suffolk Flea at the Suffolk Showground in Ipswich.
The organiser is moving its antiques and collectors’ fairs into the event centre at the ground and has decided to try a fleamarket “in the more earthy cattle building”, said Sheridan, who expects around 100 stalls.
