Fairs and Markets

In January this year we ran a Fairs & Markets story (ATG No 2374) about the Georgian former courthouse in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, which had reopened its doors as an antiques and cultural centre using the first floor only.

The floods which swept north-west England at the end of July involved major downpours hitting Congleton in Cheshire. This included Victoria Mill Antiques and Collectors’ Centre on the edge of town, which stayed open despite flood damage, as this Twitter picture below shows.

As Belfast capitalises on its Titanic history and locally filmed TV series Game of Thrones, two enterprising dealers are seizing the moment to launch a new fair.

A dealer who was so disappointed that the second of the biannual Art Deco fairs held at Eltham Palace in September had been cancelled has launched his own nearby.

An example of a 'ngaady a mwaash' mask made by the Bushoong Kuba peoples is among the large offering of female-themed items at the next staging of 'Tribal Art London' (TAL).

Former farmer Ralph Retallack is now an antiques dealer in Falmouth with his partner Nicola Fuller. They are launching an antiques and decorative fair near St Ives this September and are looking to attract more quality exhibitors including architectural salvage dealers.

The words ‘country’ and ‘brocante’ have an allure of their own as Lucy Haywood discovered when she founded the Country Brocante store in the village of Midhurst, West Sussex.

An antiques dealer in the picturesque market town of Bridgnorth in Shropshire is retiring from the trade to concentrate on her writing career.

The 102nd staging of the London Antique Arms Fair is on Saturday, August 24.

A 19th century plaster bust of Napoleon was among sales at the recent Cotswold Decorative Antiques & Art Fair, which takes place in Westonbirt School near Tetbury three times a year.

Coming up on August Bank Holiday Monday (August 26) is an annual event which brings thousands of eager buyers to the grounds of a stately home in Wiltshire.

A snuff shoe stolen from a stand at a fair in June has been recovered following an ATG article alerting the trade.

An Art Deco bronze by Demétre Chiparus (1886-1947) sold for more than £20,000 at the latest 'Art and Antiques for Everyone' fair – the first edition under the management of MAD Events.

Alison Davis and Alan Old of So Last Century Vintage and Retro Fairs are launching a third fair in south London.

Well-known dealers Ruth and Paul Thurman were the long-term organisers of Field Dog Fairs, running antiques and collectors’ events across the East Midlands, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northants.

Art in Clay Hatfield has been running for 25 years and is regarded as one of the most important ceramic and pottery festivals in Europe.

It’s with a rather heavy heart that Mike Collins, director of specialist market operator Sherman & Waterman, has announced that he is giving up running the Friday antiques market at Bermondsey.

Upcoming fairs in Scotland in the spotlight.