Thanks Jason, it was great to meet you face to face as well as "Dr John" and family.
So as you know, I took YPM there for his first game fair and my first one for six or seven years. We had a great day, as Jason said, easy to access, beautiful location, friendly, relaxed, dog and toddler-friendly. Compared to the old CLA Game Fair, the food on offer was very good. Not cheap, but not a rip off either given the quality and portions. From memory, there was a truck making pizza in a wood-fired oven, really high-quality Welsh burgers (for those who think that Welshes is an indicator of burger quality), a roast duck stall, two hog roasts with full pigs on display (YPM's choice: "I want to eat the pig!"), a barbecue, a Thai food stall. As an indication a massive pulled pork bap with a side of fried garlicky potatoes (enough for me AND the little one) was ten pounds. There were two bars selling very good real ales and cider, one in a converted Routemaster which was fun. There were also more expensive options on offer including a proper restaurant, cocktail and cigar lounge, etc, but I didn't try them. So that's for the catering: they've clearly decided to focus on quality and it's all the better for it.
It's true that it was a bit short on exhibitors, but those that were there were all relevant. I think there was only one place selling garden furniture! Gunmaker's Quarter was mostly focused on, shall we say, "boutique" gunmakers. There was a conspicuous absence of some of the larger companies you may expect. GMK (Beretta, Benelli, Sako, Tikka, etc) were there, but not much in the way of rifles. I was hoping to pick up a Merkel catalogue to update my 2007 one, but no such luck. But again, the low-key nature meant that everyone was ready to chat, there was no hard-sell going on, just not much in the way of shopping. I also had a chance to go and speak to people at Shooting Times which was productive, and the same went for "Dr John" with another title. The field archery stand was a joke though... The Air Rifle ranges looked good but I couldn't really join in with a toddler strapped to my back.
I'm not hugely into gun dogs as I don't have one, but it was doggy heaven for those who are. Really good falconry presence too, a huge selection of birds of prey on show and displays. I didn't have a chance to do any shooting though.
I think the huge difference and improvement here was that it was genuinely a place for people to meet, talk, probably do business, and I think that's one of the main things the organisers were trying to achieve. Well from that perspective, it was a great success. Facilities, food and drink, toilets and so on were all first rate. None of the crush, rush, mess and hard sell of the old CLA. Much more family friendly and just a really pleasant day. I really hope that this feedback makes its' way around and that next year, more exhibitors turn up to make it a perfect package.
