The last Friday and Saturday in October saw the second Stoneleigh Antiques Fair, or to give it its correct title: The IACF “Celebration of Antiques” at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire. Back in April we were present at the first event as traders. You may even have read about our experiences.
If you have read my earlier posting you’ll know that we didn’t have the greatest of times so I thought it would be good to attend as a buyer and see what it was like from the other side of the table.
Planning your arrival
It’s usually a good idea to plan ahead for big antiques fairs. Buying your tickets in advance can usually save you at least part of the cost of a cup of tea, although tea is usually quite expensive and event holders aren’t very generous with ticket discounts.
Of more importance is whether you want to be in with the “trade” early entry, for which you will pay more. To be honest, unless you’re really keen, this is rarely worthwhile. Getting admission an hour early might be great at a small venue but at a place the size of Stoneleigh, if you come in at the normal entry time and then dash to the far side of the venue you’ll probably get ahead of half of the early entrants. Of course, traders will start looking for the best bargains as soon as they get set up. At an event like Stoneleigh, that’s the day before anyone else gets let in.
We opted for arriving at 10:00 a.m. on Friday as the general public entrance opened up. Arriving at Stoneleigh Park we were a bit surprised to see no signposts until we got to the site entrance. You could easily have driven past and never known the fair was taking place. We entered the site and drove to the directed parking field. We parked up in about the 4th row of cars. If the cars ahead of us represented all the early entrants there can’t have been more than a few of hundred people already buying.
The public entrance and walk to the front of Hall 1 is a bit dispiriting to be honest. The showground looks like it could do with a bit of cheering up although the heavy cloud and promise of rain didn’t helped. The inflatable entrance arch everyone walked through really didn’t do a lot to help, but it probably sounded better in theory.
Outside in the rain
Rain and wind are the bane of any outdoor event in Britain and at the end of October it’s a brave person who assumes you’ll get two good days back to back. Even so, the outdoor sellers, of which there seemed a few more than in April, really didn’t deserve the drizzle to start just as the public came in. We put up with the rain for half an hour or so and had a good look round. The standard of goods on offer was not a lot different to Malvern Flea, albeit on a very much smaller scale.
IACF have made some attempt at weather proofing by offering a few open fronted stalls with about a 10m long sales area in front for each trader. It’s a nice idea that would probably work better if more were on offer, but of course it always comes at extra cost. I would expect anyone planning to stay for both days would look to have some rain proofing.
As we only attended on the first day I don’t know how many outside traders stayed for both days. It’s a common feature of two day fairs that outside traders only stay for the, traditionally busier, first day. It’s a shame for people coming on the second day that they only get a proportion of the stands but for many traders the cost and hassle of overnight accommodation outweighs the benefits of the second day’s trading. With the weather set to be changeable I would guess most left at the end of Saturday.
Hall 1 – getting down to business
Moving inside, we headed for Hall 1. If you’ve read my earlier posting you’ll know that Hall 1, whilst being the smaller of the two in use is much better for selling from. The principle difference between the halls is lighting. Hall 1 isn’t great but Hall 2 is so dark that I wonder what sort of events you could usefully run in it. Maybe other event holders bring their own supplementary lighting?
Hall 1 was fairly buzzing when we entered. Whilst not all the pitches were taken, the traders who had shown up filled the spares. For the next couple of hours I was in ceramics heaven. It certainly helps that I recognise a few of the traders. It’s always good to catch up with people you’ve met before, even if you can’t remember their names (which I never can). If you’re new to fairs, don’t be shy to talk to traders. Most will be happy to talk about their stock, the fair and how things are going. It’s a long day running a stand and a conversation helps to shorten it.
The standard of goods on offer was generally excellent with a good quantity of higher quality items. This is what big fairs are all about. You can wander around antique stores all day long, or for that matter many smaller fairs, and not see very much of quality. Even if your wallet doesn’t go that far, it’s a joy to see interesting and unusual items and it’s why a good fair will always be worth a visit.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much Moorcroft or Troika ceramics in one place before. At most fairs Troika will only be available from one or two traders at most and it’s a pretty rare event to see it in any shop. I also found several traders with some really nice pieces of early Doulton for sale. Most of the ceramics that we sell comes via auctions but the better, rarer pieces of Doulton you have to buy when you can. We sell a few pieces from time to time but mostly I’m buying to keep. This makes me slightly less price sensitive so buying at fairs is often the most productive.
It’s why I go to fairs.
Hall 2 – a visit to The Dark Side
After Hall 1, Hall 2 comes as a bit of a shock to the system. The light level takes a few minutes to adjust to as does the amount of unused space. It’s a real shame for the traders in there because their stock is every bit as good as Hall 1, but the atmosphere just isn’t the same. Even offering the traders who were present the chance to spread out a bit (which is always great news if you’re a trader) there were empty pitches. However, we comfortably spent another couple of hours enjoying the goods on offer.
We had several good friends selling in Hall 2 that had also been selling in the Spring. Their view was that footfall was down on the earlier event, but one at least had had a very good opening few hours. For traders, footfall matters of course but not as much as how much the visitors are spending. At shows the early trade can be very important, although in our experience the general public tend not to arrive much before 10:30 a.m., regardless of opening time.
We had decided to make the most of the day, but aching legs demanded a short tea break in the afternoon. Once again, I’m afraid, Stoneleigh didn’t help itself with the state of the restaurant. I know keeping tables cleaned is hard work in a busy restaurant but by mid-afternoon they seemed to have given up. In fairness the staff looked pretty exhausted so the catering had obviously done a good trade.
Heading home, tired but very happy
By late afternoon some of the indoor traders were already starting to pack up, with no intention of returning for the second day. We finished the day by returning to the back of Hall 2 to buy a second piece of Doulton for the day. Having spent up, we made our (very) weary way back to the car. The very empty parking field confirmed that we were just about the only buyers left in the place. Judging by the positions of the thirty or so cars that remained I think there must have been about 8 or 9 rows of maybe 60 cars in total. As most buyers tend to be couples I’d estimate there had been about 1000 people through the door.
In the end we had a really enjoyable day. Not having to fight through crowds made for a very relaxing buying experience. In the halls, the standard of goods on offer was as high as any large, unvetted show we attend. We will certainly return buyers for as long as the show goes on. That however must be in some doubt. I’m just not convinced that the venue is suitable for an antiques show. The lack of footfall is a killer for traders regardless of the cost of a pitch. That of course leads to a downward spiral. However, the dates for 2025 have been announced so maybe a good event in the spring will see new enthusiasm. I certainly hope so.
