Sunbury Antiques is launching a new monthly event at Sandown Park Racecourse as International Antiques & Collectors Fairs (IACF) ceases its events at the Surrey venue.
The new antiques market takes place on the first Tuesday of every month, launching on April 3, and will run in a format similar to that of Sunbury’s current bimonthly fair at nearby Kempton Park.
IACF has held antiques and vintage markets at Sandown since March 2016, taking over from Alan Kipping of Wonder Whistle Promotions, which launched antiques and collectors’ fairs there in the mid-1980s.
The Newark-based fair organiser had experimented with changing the fair’s day but held the final event there in late October.
An IACF representative called the change “a shift” in the calendar “rather than a drop” as it will now allow for more focus on IACF events at the Newbury Showground.
These include the new trade-focused ‘One-day Monday’ fairs in March and May and the current two-day fairs taking place on Saturday and Sunday (rather than Friday and Saturday) in April and July.
Runway fairs
IACF is also increasing the number of its Newark ‘Runway’ fairs, which will now run on the last Monday of every month from February to November.
The Sandown Park market means a second event for Sunbury Antiques, which runs its Kempton market on the second and last Tuesday of every month.
“We wanted something that was absolutely right,” said Edward Cruttenden, owner of Sunbury Antiques. “The proximity of Sandown is great but the venue is great as well.”
He added that the opening of the new event was not in response to the announcement earlier this year that the racecourse had been earmarked by its owner, The Jockey Club, for redevelopment. But, he said, “it’s healthy to diversify”.
Though the new event will run on the first Tuesday of every month like the IACF event, it will start an hour earlier (7am rather than 8am).
Like Kempton Park, there will be free parking and free entry. Bookings for dealers are set to start in January.
