Fairs, Markets, Shops and Centres

One of the 15 new exhibitors at Bowman Antiques Fairs’ antiques and art fair at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate on Saturday and Sunday, May 20-21, is Belgian dealer Frank van Laer from Antwerp who trades in decorative pieces.

The calm and grassy plain by the River Welland in the middle of the town of Stamford where Field Dog Fairs holds a biannual event was not always so serene.

Antique dolls supremo Judy Bebber has been organising the biannual Kensington Doll Show at Kensington Town Hall for 20 years.

Described as a building full of clues and symbolism created by its architects John Seely and Paul Paget, Eltham Palace was designed in 1933 for the vastly rich art collectors Virginia and Stephen Courtauld of textiles fame.

Dealer Julie Brisbane’s triannual Antiques in Tents has been described in glowing terms by an American visitor as “a fair with a fantastic range and quality and probably the most enjoyable and charming fair I have ever visited”.

The biannual National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair at the Redditch Sports Centre in Redditch on Sunday, May 14, which has been fully booked for months, is the last to be held at this venue in its 13 years of existence, as the centre is closing.

If you are interested in Chinese mother-of-pearl gaming counters then it’s a pretty good bet that the name Bill Neal will also come up.

Textiles dealers Caroline Zoob and Hetty Purbrick, organisers of the annual Decorative Living Fair at Eridge Park in Kent, met more than 20 years ago when they were exhibiting at the Kensington Brocante.

News about fairs and markets in the Brighton area...

A selling exhibition at the National Glass Fair on Sunday, May 7, will showcase some 40 to 50 pieces from the contemporary glassmaker Norman Stuart-Clarke who will be at the fair himself.

Alan Wilkinson is in a good position to assess the current state of the Brighton and Lewes flea markets, having owned them for 25 years. Both markets are fully let with a total of 80 stallholders and 40 cabinets overall.

Described as one of the quiet glories of southern France, the ancient town of Pézenas is set in the Languedoc Roussillon region, all rocky outcrops, pines and vines.

Keeley Harris is so pleased with the way her vintage home shows are going that she is expanding them.

Maxine Stonehill of Pop Up Vintage Fairs has launched a vintage market at a new London location.

Ahead of IACF’s popular Shepton Mallet antiques and collectors’ fair from May 5-7, with up to 600 standholders, the organisers have announced that the March event showed an impressive increase in buyers’ attendance.

The opening of the Turner Contemporary in Margate in 2011 reinvigorated the tourism industry in the north Kent area.

Launched last year by Kate and Mike Button of Blackdog Antiques in the pretty north Suffolk town of Halesworth, the monthly Halesworth Brocante, held in the Old Print Works, has become become a regular and popular fixture.

The first of the biannual Antique Scientific Instrument Fairs due to be held on Sunday, April 30, at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomsbury, London, has been cancelled owing to unexpected refurbishment work at the hotel, advises Don Edwards, the organiser.

Helen Bowman and Ben Wray of Bowman Fairs launched their first fleamarket earlier this month in the unusual setting of the Skipton Auction Mart in North Yorkshire. In its daily life, the venue is a cattle market.

“Seeing the vans arrive and all the wonderful things being unloaded and then built into something beautiful on their stands is a real buzz: we can’t wait.” These are the words of Richard Burgoin, director of Arthur Swallow Fairs, when talking about his ‘summer of salvage’.