London Boat Show, my thoughts.

[StephenSails]

Second time I have been the show at Excel and I personally think that it is a lot easier to get to from the South Coast than Earls Court. Using public transport I was able to get to the show for £26 return and under 2 hours! I cannot understand anyone from the South Coast having woes with getting there, I spoke to one chap who drove up and got parked in 1 hour 30 which is pretty good, I can see people from oop nawf having a gripe but then it cant be that much harder to get in from that side of town surely, no more dificult that Earls Court was.

The building that houses the show is clean, tidy, bright, healthy, and modern as apposed to Earls Court which is a rancid place for any show.

Walking around the show there was still a lacking in decent food I felt but if in London I would not want to eat at a show anyway, I ended up jumping back on the Jubilee line and having a nice lunch over looking the river near London Bridge.

There seemed to be more seating this year for the tired leg brigade. A few more interesting attractions, I liked the engine maintenance demonstrations in particular.

I think they were also handing out show guides for free this year, was this so? A good saving if this was the case.

All in all a much better show than 2 years ago and I cannot see how this show could go back to that dive known as Earls Court, the show could not fit in there anyway.

 

[bigmart]

I have to ask if you have attended a show at Earls Court recently.

The most successful exhibitions in my industry are held at the NEC & Earls Court. There is one show that I attend, held at Earls Court, that is going from strength to strength, attracting serious Buyers & Exhibitors because the venue is well placed & well served Unlike Excel which feels like visiting a Public Convenience

Martin

 

[alldownwind]

I thoroughly enjoyed my days out at Excel this year. I'm not going to try and analyse exactly why, but I looked at lots of interesting stuff, got some bargains, bumped into many old friends, and felt the Show had a new life in it. Yes the Show guide was thrown in with the ticket price. Yes I thought the car park is pricey and that sounds to me like a foul-up at the organisation stage.
The place is easy for me to drive to, whereas Earls Court meant a dreadful journey by whatever means. I hear what Bigmart says and maybe they have smartened the place up, it certainly needed it.

 

[StephenSails]

I have not been to Earls Court since the marine industry out grew the place, I used to attend as a visitor and laterly working on one of the stands. I would not choose to work there again, it is a very unhealthy place to be, certainly the old hall, the new hall maybe not.

 

[cookjwm]

From the east coast -it took 4 hours to get to Southampton and 4.5 to get back. Excel is clean bright ,modern and accessible. Earls Court is an inaccesable overheated dump.All the food is costly but that's the same at both venues and its the operators fault. However we found a good pasty outside at Excel last year. But it's not the venue its the content surely! Would our south coast friends prefer the same hassle we have getting to Southampton by having it at say Ipswich? I certainly would not go back to Earls Court -its horrible! -and I'm not keen on Southampton except for its size and scope.

 

[Norman_E]

I agree, Earls Court is a poor place to get to from the South East. I went to Excel Yesterday, and my only gripe is that "Health & Safety" issues mean that you cannot buy things like Duralac at the show.
On the upside I met two of my friends who have boats in the same Marina as me in Turkey.

 

[bedouin]

[ QUOTE ]

Walking around the show there was still a lacking in decent food I felt but if in London I would not want to eat at a show anyway, I ended up jumping back on the Jubilee line and having a nice lunch over looking the river near London Bridge.


[/ QUOTE ]
It is not that easy to hop on the Jubilee line from Excel - it must be the best part of a mile from the entrance to Custom House.

The problem with food is that it is not convenient (or even possible?) to leave the show to eat so you have to arrange your visit to eat before you get there or after you leave.

For me I like to have a meal in the vicinity of the show To give me some thinking time and plan the rest of the visit

 

[StephenSails]

Well you have sit on the DLR for 3 minutes to get back on the Jubilee line, even so Waterloo is 20 minutes away from Excel, hardly an issue.

 

[BlueChip]

I drove to Excel in 1 hour 15 minutes from Aylesbury. A41/M25/M11/A406
Free parking in the side street near Custom House station, crossed the railway bridge and was in the show less than 5 minutes later.
For me the venue is fine, light airy and more stuff to look at than I could manage in one day.

 

[bedouin]

One problem is that the DLR trains are not necessarily that frequent - so you cannot rely on that.

I travel on the Jubilee line every day and I reckon it I have to allow 20 mins from London Bridge (concourse) to Canary Wharf (ground level). I am very surprised that you can reliably do Waterloo to Excel in 20 mins!

 

[StephenSails]

They seemed to e running a shuttle service on the DLR just going backwards and forwards from Canning Town to Excel. Very well organised with marshalls on each platform telling people where to go and a dude on the DLR itself which I have not seen before.

 

[bedouin]

Ah - that makes sense!

I was thinking of the problems getting to Excel from Canary Wharf via DLR - which is unbelievably slow - a reliable shuttle at Custom House would improve things tremendously

 

[ditchcrawler]

I went to the show yesterday.58 of us from Woodbridge.Coach each way & entrance £20.Most people thought it was an improvement from last year.
Personally I think Excell is better for an exhibition than Earls Court.Light,airy wide aisles,but I agree not enough yotty stuff.I like SIBS but it is a bit of a treck for those of us on the East Coast.
I played with the Ticktac instruments I shall now buy ,finalised my order for new sails,zip up bag & a snuffer,bought my Moody Assoc burgee,got a winch handle at 25% off & picked up my Rocna anchor from the stand(which I had previously ordered) thus saving a bomb in freight charges.I liked the anchoring display although it must be easier to lay out chain when you can see the bottom(we never see the bottom on the East Coast,but we do sometimes feel it)
All in all a preety good day topped off by fish & chips in Woodbridge.
For next year more smaller yachts,less gin palaces,& well done the classic boats bit.

 

[SimbaDog]

Yep, there is a to & from shuttle running between canning town & custom house, about every 5 minutes.
Thought the show was pretty good, very airy, light & not as hot as Earls Court has been. Little suprised at the limited range of boats on the water though & suprised there was no sailing going on ?

 

[ShipsWoofy]

From whippet and black pudding land, I personally found excell a much easier place to drive to.

It is dual carriage way and main roads from the motorway and unlike Earls Court where you have to leave the car at Uxbridge or the last year I went at Wembley and jump on the underground, you can park outside the door of the Excell.

Location for me, was far better. I preferred the venue, even though I have only been once on year 1, I still stand by that. Though, unlike Earls there is no sitting around in little alcoves for a drink and a fag, the place is a little 'sterile'.

I still think it is time it was at the NEC, I truly believe then it would have a vast increase of visitors.