Latest News Articles by Joan Porter
More stalls welcome at Windsor market
24 August 2020Suzanne Hall is the organiser of a small monthly midweek antiques and fleamarket in Old Windsor which is reopening as lockdown eases on Wednesday, September 2, at the Memorial Hall.
GNB aims to be back in Brentwood in November
24 August 2020For the first time in 26 years GNB Fairs will not be running an antiques and collectors’ fair at the Brentwood Centre in Essex over the August bank holiday weekend.
Oxfordshire fair organiser hails camaraderie as all traders sign up for reorganised event
17 August 2020Gary Wallis, organiser of the 'Henley Decor Fair', is delighted that all the exhibitors who booked for the original May/June event at Greenlands Park beside the Thames are on board for the reorganised dates following its cancellation due to the pandemic.
Fair navigator and facemask maker
17 August 2020Thirteen-year old Miles Raymond from Tunbridge Wells started collecting after he found an old bottle in his grandparents’ garden. He would like be a dealer in the future, but his career path also leans towards design and engineering – with his interest in antiques a useful influence.
Brighton and Lewes fleas bounce back
17 August 2020“We opened at the earliest opportunity two months ago and were immediately ridiculously busy,” said David Skeet, general manager of the Brighton and Lewes fleamarkets.
Quayside beckons Beccles market
10 August 2020Kate Lee, an antiques dealer in Beccles on the edge of the Norfolk Broads, is also co-organiser of the Beccles Antiques Market.
Dovehouse Dorking mid-summer fair cancelled
10 August 2020Dovehouse Fine Antiques Fairs’ mid-summer fair at the Dorking Halls on August 16 has been cancelled.
Former dealer launches third Robin’s Nest antique centre in historic old bank
10 August 2020Nathan Alexander is a busy man. He has opened three antiques centres in three years with two in Southampton and a third in Fareham, all under the same title of Robin’s Nest Emporium.
Stallholders raring to go at Jay fair
03 August 2020Jay Fairs aka Joy O’Meara, who launched her fairs in Oxfordshire in the 1980s with her sister Jill Napper, is excited about the return after a four-month absence of her popular monthly antiques fair at the parish hall in Benson, near Oxford, on Sunday, August 16.
Organisers frustrated by venue rules
03 August 2020Fairs held at conference and events venues that involve more than 30 people at any one time will not be possible under government legislation until October 1.
Shepton Flea leaps back into action at showground
03 August 2020Six months after the last Shepton Fleamarket was held at the Bath & West Showground in Somerset, the event returns on Sunday, August 16, with more than 250 stalls.
Carmarthen fair put on hold
03 August 2020Towy Events organiser and dealer Robert Pugh has cancelled his August antiques and fleamarkets monthly event at the Carmarthen Showground and will await government guidance about when he can restart.
Rare Alphonse Visconti poster provides memory of travel joys
03 August 2020As foreign travel is greatly restricted for now, we can feast our eyes instead on this extravagant poster of the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco.
Long Melford centre ready to reopen
03 August 2020The planned reopening at Easter of the former antiques warehouse in the Suffolk village of Long Melford was one of the last features to appear in this column prior to lockdown.
On a stairway to sales heaven
20 July 2020It’s not often that an antiques fair is likened to a Led Zep reunion, but bear with us…
Breaking down barriers: How redecoration is boosting trade
20 July 2020Stephanie Castell, owner of The Secondhand Warehouse in the Herefordshire town of Leominster, resorted to an extreme measure to make social distancing easier when the centre reopened: she took a wall out.
Take a break and switch off a little
13 July 2020Trader reopens shop and stresses the need not to bombard customers with the safety message
Ashburton gets back on the antiques trail
13 July 2020Eighteen months ago, dealer Lydia Wood launched an antiques trail in the small town of Ashburton on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park in south Devon.
B2B jumps through the hoops
13 July 2020Helen Yourston, director of B2B Events, has been in touch with a reminder of the organiser’s first event post-lockdown.
Sanity returns (with sanitisers)
06 July 2020Focus on two centres and a Cheshire fair as dealers and organisers encourage visitors