Has the Boat Show disappeared

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Sailfree

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Following on from the "have the Boat Show bargains disappeared" I suspect that this year the number of exhibitors will be so small that some will consider that the LIBS has in itself disappeared.

I am not sure whether Excel is tracking the recession but guess they are suffering MDL-itus and believe the recession and their respective charges do not apply to them.

Having said that I intend to visit next Sunday
 
I think that the boat show has some long term problems. As far as I recall, and I could check the figures, but over the last 5 years the number of validated PAYING visitors has been reducing each year from a peak of around 200k when Excel first opened to under 100K now. I think that the organisers - and YBW's publishers - usually trumpet the slightly more impressive visitor number that includes non-paying people. There are between 5 - 10 k of those. I think, IIRC, the year on year trend for reduction has been just below 10%.

It would be great to see an increase this year as if it keeps going this way it goes into a bit of a vicious circle over costs and returns of exhibiting.

My own feeling is that it needs to move to a better time of year where they could really make use of the outdoor space and create a marina display that could be much bigger than Southampton's marina.

Maybe April - or a single show in Excel in September?? Who knows but they will have to do something if numbers continue to drop.
 
We don't trumpet

moondancer said:
I think that the boat show has some long term problems. As far as I recall, and I could check the figures, but over the last 5 years the number of validated PAYING visitors has been reducing each year from a peak of around 200k when Excel first opened to under 100K now. I think that the organisers - and YBW's publishers - usually trumpet the slightly more impressive visitor number that includes non-paying people. There are between 5 - 10 k of those. I think, IIRC, the year on year trend for reduction has been just below 10%.

It would be great to see an increase this year as if it keeps going this way it goes into a bit of a vicious circle over costs and returns of exhibiting.

My own feeling is that it needs to move to a better time of year where they could really make use of the outdoor space and create a marina display that could be much bigger than Southampton's marina.

Maybe April - or a single show in Excel in September?? Who knows but they will have to do something if numbers continue to drop.
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Any number in fact with give the bare bones as published on the ABC site as LBS and SBS is ABC audited, along with our magazines.

You will see there is a certain amount give for exhibitor movement, paid for tickets and comps which are not necessarily free.

Hope this helps...
 
I still go every year ... not sure why! ... Almost identical boats as last year, except for the prices, .. very few sailing boats and those in the same space as every year - there is a walkway this year which is a good move but the boats will be pretty much the same. I usually make a bee-line straight for the Classic Boat stand but that looks to be the same again but without the interesting boats on ... a proper classic sailing boat might have been nice - could have had mine if they'd asked. They have got a couple of river motor boats and the same little stalls as last year .. International, Classic Marine etc. ... and the hammock again! Other than that ... loads of chandlers selling all the stuff you can buy in a chandlery anywhere but at 'special' show prices! .. some rubber dinghies and some motor boats that nobody can afford .. and then there's lunch .. actually words fail me about lunch ... hey ho! ... I expect I'll go next year as well !!!
 
Easy solution to London Boat show. Move it. Anywhere. Just not in lousy overpriced, can't park, bloody minded, low standards, rude London.

No one in their right mind goes there unless forced to by their work. That used to apply to me for a while.

Put it in Manchester for example, at a better time of year, perhaps late March, prices would be lower, place better, preferable in all ways.

Won't happen though. Londoners think they are perfect. Couldn't contemplate anywhere else. They will just demand a subsidy from the Gorgon Broon.

Mike :(:(:(
 
dmmbruce said:
Easy solution to London Boat show. Move it. Anywhere. Just not in lousy overpriced, can't park, bloody minded, low standards, rude London.

No one in their right mind goes there unless forced to by their work. That used to apply to me for a while.

Put it in Manchester for example, at a better time of year, perhaps late March, prices would be lower, place better, preferable in all ways.

Won't happen though. Londoners think they are perfect. Couldn't contemplate anywhere else. They will just demand a subsidy from the Gorgon Broon.

Mike :(:(:(
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Ewwwwww!!!!! Get you!
What tosh.
 
Sailfree said:
Following on from the "have the Boat Show bargains disappeared" I suspect that this year the number of exhibitors will be so small that some will consider that the LIBS has in itself disappeared.

I am not sure whether Excel is tracking the recession but guess they are suffering MDL-itus and believe the recession and their respective charges do not apply to them.

Having said that I intend to visit next Sunday
Click to expand...

I remember seeing a flyer in November for LIBS and it had less boats and exhibitors that SIBS. Personally, I now prefer SIBS and don't even consider going to LIBS.
 
my biggest grype with the new location at the Exel is that it is such a pain the ass to get there. We live about 40 miles west of London. It used to take about an hour and a bit to get there by train. it now takes three hours. For the past couple of years we've driven there, driving round the M25. It still takes over two hours.

I still don't understand why they moved it from Earls Court.

I heard recently that 75% of UK pleasure boating is in the Solent. It stands to reason that a vast majority of sailors live within a reasonable commuting distance to their boat, i.e. on the western side of London. Earls Court seemed to me to fit into that scenario, but London Docklands!!! That's way too far to travel. No wonder the numbers are going down each year.

I for one will not be going.
 
I can never understand why it isnt in Birmingham NEC, easy access on good roads, acres of parking, huge halls, centre of the country, instead of the appalling Excel with terrible access for anyone that is not in London or the East Coast, I only go to Southampton it is far more sensible for me, and I suspect, a great deal more people
 
Earls Court was, and is, an unhealthy dump, and expensive to get to.
The 'alternative' Boat Show held there was a dismal flop, with laughably few visitors.
Wherever the Show is held, it will be hard for a proportion of potential visitors to get to. I can understand the arguments for holding it somewhere central like the NEC although I suspect that means the vast majority will have a long journey.
I for one will go along to Excel, as usual, and enjoy my day out picking over bits and bumping into old friends for a natter.
 
I will go (snow permitting) but mainly because SIBS is always held when I am away sailing. I'll be gutted if the snow stops me, because I have a spinnaker to pick up, and I have already paid for the tickets. I have however noticed a steady deterioration of LIBS over the last few years, with fewer bargains and fewer sailing boats to see. If the forecasts are right, a lot of people will not be able to get anywhere next week, and the show may see a huge drop in visitor numbers, paid for or not.
 
banger said:
I can never understand why it isnt in Birmingham NEC, easy access on good roads, acres of parking, huge halls, centre of the country, instead of the appalling Excel with terrible access for anyone that is not in London or the East Coast, I only go to Southampton it is far more sensible for me, and I suspect, a great deal more people
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---and there is a train from Euston every 20 mins, and the Airport is connected by a 3 min shuttle and there is a lake.
I think that the statement 75% of UK boating is in the Solent must be complete tosh! The East Coast Rivers, the Clyde, Milford Haven and Plymouth have marinas galore. Not to mention Pwllheli, Conwy, Hartlepool, Poole etc. And what about all the motor cruisers on the Thames, Severn, Avons and Trent?
There isn't a narrow boat in sight, I would suspect, on the Solent.
Anyway if the show were at the NEC, the Solent crowd could get there in under 2 1/2hrs. hours by car M27, A34, M40 and M42). There are also direct train services from Bournemouth.
Anythings got to be better than Excel-the fact that Gordon Brown had some sort of summit there is proof of that!
 
Cantata said:
Earls Court was, and is, an unhealthy dump, and expensive to get to.
The 'alternative' Boat Show held there was a dismal flop, with laughably few visitors.
Wherever the Show is held, it will be hard for a proportion of potential visitors to get to. I can understand the arguments for holding it somewhere central like the NEC although I suspect that means the vast majority will have a long journey.
I for one will go along to Excel, as usual, and enjoy my day out picking over bits and bumping into old friends for a natter.
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Clue's in the name: the London International Boat Show. Currently a few hundred metres from Greenwich. What sort of nautical history has Birmingham or Manchester...

Anyway, who's going to travel all that way up norf. Some geezer with a whippet?
 
GlennG said:
Clue's in the name: the London International Boat Show. Currently a few hundred metres from Greenwich. What sort of nautical history has Birmingham or Manchester...

Anyway, who's going to travel all that way up norf. Some geezer with a whippet?
Click to expand...
Until Chinese imports supplanted during Thatcher's Britain, most yacht and boat fittings were made in Birmingham and the Black Country. Some still are!
 
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