Antiques Trade Gazette 73
fairs & markets
Trade do like Mondays...
■ One-day Swinderby format proves a hit with dealers
Joan Porter
reports
IF their first such event is any marker for the future, International Antiques and Collectors’ Fairs are onto a winner with their new-format, one-day Monday fairs at Swinderby Airfield.
Speaking to ATGfrom the May 17 fair, IACF’s operations manager Rachel Everett told me: “We’re all gobsmacked and that includes the standholders. There are well over 600 dealers standing here and the place is heaving. “We aimed the fair at the trade rather than the public and it’s roughly 80 per cent trade who are here buying. As it’s a weekday fair, we thought it was going to be popular and there were plenty of pre-fair bookings, but, as ever, a lot of people waited to see what the weather was going to do.“ In March, after holding only two two-day fairs at the venue, IACF announced the end of such events at Swinderby and, at the same time, launched the one-day fairs with
four dates booked for 2010. The organisers then followed this up with another new one-dayer – also on a Monday – at Newbury Racecourse. If this goes as well as the first Swinderby trade-focused Monday fair, then the organisers will have hit on a popular format for the trade. The next fair at Swinderby is on
Monday, July 5. The first Newbury fair is on Monday, June 28. Tel: 01636 702326.
Ascot substitute
A REMINDER from West Sussex-based Arun Fairs that, as previously announced, they are not running their planned new fair at Ascot Racecourse on Monday 31.
Instead, the organisers have an antiques and collectors’ fair on the prior Saturday, May 29, at the Cisswood House Hotel, Lower Beeding, near Horsham in West Sussex. Telephone Stephanie Clark on 01903
734112.
Plate winner
WELSH ceramics are a lasting attraction at
Towy Fairs and among the Welsh porcelain which Swansea-based Maybery Antiques will bring to the May 29-30 fair at the Carmarthen Showground, is this Nantgarw plate, above. Dated c.1818-1820 and of the Brace service type, it was probably painted in the Bradley workshop in London. Marked Nantgarw c w, it is priced at £2000.
SUCCESS ALL ROUND: a pre-Election visit to the Gloucester Antiques Centre from Ed Vaizey, left, Tory MP for Wantage, and newly-appointed Arts Minister, along with new Tory MP for Gloucester Richard Graham, centre, and Evan Maindonald, director of the expanding Gloucester Antiques Centre.
Playing to strongest suite...
IT’S a military maxim that you reinforce success and that’s what the owners of the Gloucester Antiques Centre have done. With furniture one of the centre’s strongest sellers, the directors are opening up 7000 sq ft of additional space in the building next door to accommodate more of it. Scheduled to open in September, ‘the Great Hall’ is an open-plan showroom space which leads directly onto the Gloucester Quays Designer Outlet multi-storey car park and is accessible via a bridge from the centre. Said director Evan Maindonald: ”We have a big demand from furniture dealers who want to stand at the centre, but, up to now, we just can’t accommodate them. We’re particularly interested in period furniture, but hope to attract dealers in Arts Nouveau, Deco and Arts and Crafts furniture, as well as retro.“ There is also an art gallery, bookshelving and cabinet space and Mr Maindonald wants to attract specialist dealers in paintings and prints and books as well as leather luggage, mirrors, lighting and the decorative arts. Prices start from £200 a month, with cabinets from £65 and there is a discount for dealers wanting to take larger areas. Telephone Stephen Zacaroli on 01452 508 263.
The moral high ground
ORGANISERS Ruth and Paul Thurman of Field Dog Fairs report that their Deene Park fair at Corby, Northamptonshire, is filling up nicely for their three-day Bank Holiday event on May 29-31. The house has been owned by the Brudenell family since the 16th century but plainly the Thurmans have a better eye for terrain than one of its most famous sons – the 7th Earl of Cardigan who led the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
“The fair site is on top on a hill,” says Paul. “So we have few worries about waterlogged ground in the event of rain. We have around 150 dealers in a big marquee and lots of outside pitches.” Further evidence that Paul and Ruth
Collectors launch forth in a big way
TWO collectors, Dave Brown who specialises in pots and bottles, and automobilia buff Alan McConville, are launching a one-day Swinderby-type fair at Finmere Aerodrome, near Buckingham, because of what they see as the lack of large outdoor antiques and collectors’ fairs in their area. Their first effort will be on Sunday, June 6. Said Dave: ”There are no similar outdoor events around here and the aerodrome has space for 300 large outdoor pitches. There is a also a very successful car boot there on Saturdays and a general market on Sundays which attracts thousands of people
every week. We’re keeping the price of pitches at £20 and the public will be allowed access at the same time as stallholders at 6.30am, as Kempton currently do and we’ll have a finish time of 2pm.
“There’s parking for 2000 vehicles, the site is six miles from Junction 9 or 10 from the M40 and close to the A43. By advertising locally and nationally, we’re hoping to attract lots of traders and an equally high number of visitors.” Telephone Dave on 07876 705004 or Alan on 07759 806339.
www.abc.fair.co.uk
know how to pick their ground is their fair at Stamford Meadows, Lincolnshire, the next of which will be from June 25 to 27.
“It’s the most popular of our fairs as it’s right in the middle of Stamford,” says Paul. Tel: 01780 410286.
Hallmark’s fine berth
IN 1930, during the heyday of ocean liners, a stylish terminal was built at Tilbury Docks, its airy arrivals halls decorated in stained glass, and with a first-class restaurant next door. The Grade 2-Listed Art Deco buildings, at what is London’s only deep-water cruise-ship facility, form a fine backdrop to the antiques and collectors’ fairs run by Hallmark Fairs, who have now extended these from one- to two-day events and have moved into a second hall to accommodate more dealers. Organiser Trevor Cornforth is keen to encourage more dealers in vintage and retro, especially as he sees this fair as a ‘mini Ally Pally’, so get in touch if you deal in either as he plans a 20th century fair for his July 10-11 event. The terminal is just off the A13, close to the M25 and the Dartford Crossing. Hallmark’s next fair at the London Cruise Terminal is on May 30 and 31. Tel 01702 333640.
send information on fairs and markets to Joan Porter at fairs@antiquestr adegazette .com
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