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In reply to Post #65
It's not out as of yet.. LV Stuart brookes is the publisher. Davedogpublications I believe. Same as the CV book various contributors 
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In reply to Post #64
Hi mate - whats the title of the Lee valley book? Author etc please?
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Went myself on the Saturday for the first time. Could only get a half day ticket ( glad I did in the end ) Got there about 12.30pm struggled to find the entrance. When I eventually found it I walked straight in which was nice.. First impressions a lot smaller than I thought. Fairly busy, but it soon quietened out. Price wise on the stalls. I think the bigger discounts to be had were on the more expensive items. I was only really there for a look and some smaller items so didn't really effect me that much.
Picked up a copy of Stuart Brookes' CV book. Had a quick chat about some of his other projects. Which include a book by Mike Wilson ( Savay fame.). And a book on the Lea Valley waters, which sound interesting
Small food area. And no bar as such.. Missing a trick there. Maybe times have changed but back in the day the bar area was usually bussier than the show.. maybe that the reason why??
When I arrived Ali Hamidi was doing a talk. Standing room only. Steve Briggs followed him on hardly anyone watching, which was a shame. Just shows the power of a social media presence. Don't think Elliot Grey doing his Cypography underwater stuff faired much better.
Ali stall was right by the stage. He was doing his usual meet and greet while the talks were on. Maybe that was the ploy. Who knows??
As I said picked up the bits I went for. Some smaller newer brands were on show which was nice JAG prolite explorer etc. All in all I was done in a couple of hours. Would I go again? Maybe, maybe not who knows. We need one south of the water. Essex is a scarry place..
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Was there on the Saturday there was some deals to be had but it was all on the more high end products. Total fishing was selling the Xboat with XR500 for £2100 which was cheap as they generally go for £2500 on their website. My mate bought the new solar memory foam sleep system, uni spider bivvy with all the extra infill panels, peak etc worked out saved himself over £400. I bought the solar sofa recliner chair for £140 which was a good deal as they are generally £190.
Overall nice to have a walk around and see some products but for every day items there wasnt really great bargains to be had unless as above you wanted to spend some decent money. Still enjoyable until trying to get out as everyone parked everyone in lol you couldnt get to the exit.
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In reply to Post #61
Bit like Scientology.
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In reply to Post #60
Was worse getting out than in!!
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LOL, I didn't miss anything then. After going last year and finding few bargains were to be had and getting myself in the nightmare traffic queues I wasn't going back this year.
Looks like it was just a repeat again this year.
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In reply to Post #43
Yeah, these two chaps only work for self-absorbed-divas 
My mate lost his car in the car park, that was a good 30-40mins of walking around in the cold stabbing the key fob trying to see indicators flash...
It was very busy for an hour or two at the start, got better (crowd wise) as the day progressed
Didn't buy much, most stuff was RRP 
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'DF touched me here' tattoo booked in.
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In reply to Post #56
Im sure he told me he had to balance two snooker balls in a leathery sack on his chin
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In reply to Post #55
Did you have to milk a cow blindfolded 
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In reply to Post #54
Lol . . . I said that when I got my Jim L Fixit badge . . . 
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Pure jealousy I feel, as yesterday........I was the chosen one.
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In reply to Post #44
I'd be informing the police; Saville / Harris / Edwards now Fairbrass . . .fame corrupts
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You lot 
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Danny "the fingers" Fairbrass..
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In reply to Post #44
Well that's you cured of scrofula then. Happy days.
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In reply to Post #48
I will never wash it again.
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In reply to Post #44
Touched by the hand of Fairbrass... sounds almost religious.. 
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In reply to Post #44
‘Danny fairbrass touched me on the shoulder
Was it Konsential, a Koress, a kornoodle, or a just a koruddle?
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In reply to Post #45
Can you show me on the doll where Danny touched you 
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In reply to Post #44
‘Danny fairbrass touched me on the shoulder”
People are going to be jealous! 
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Just got home. Got there at 8.30. Queue to get in the door was enormous, so grabbed a £7 dog burger and sat in the car till 9.30. Walked straight in but it was very busy. Crawled round and had a nose at stuff. Bought a few little bits. Got £2 off a 5k bag of pellet. Mate got 3 new Sonik rods for £90 each, usually £110 I think they said. 12 cans of gas for £35 or might have been £30. Got some tips off of Rob Burgess for the Aquarium lake in France as I'm out there in may. Came across as a really nice bloke and was more than happy to pass on any info to help us. Danny Fairbrass touched me on the shoulder and said 'scuse me mate'. It really was very busy by 11.30 and we had had enough of the sea of green and camo so we left. Drove round the car park for ages as we couldn't find the way out as people just seemed to park where they wanted so it was a case of driving through gaps in the end. Wasn't bad but I'm not sure I'll do another.
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In reply to Post #40
I remember that pair minding Madonna at last years MTV awards, the price of fame I guess.
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In reply to Post #37
Getting there early. Want to get home in time for the rugger.
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In reply to Post #40
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In reply to Post #37
I will be there around 9am I think...probably walking around with a couple mates. Ones 6' 8" and looks like a viking, the other a baby faced version of Neil Spooner.
I'm the decrepit grey haired skin head with the pot belly, a bait boat under one arm and a drone following overhead...
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In reply to Post #38
Very 80's obviously not as progressive as I thought over the water..
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In reply to Post #37
Just wear high heels have a sign with the name Tracy around your neck and they will know who you are 😳😃😉
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Any one going tomorrow.? I'll be there in afternoon it was the only ticket available. But I think 4 hours will be enough. All sold out now apparently. Its me first time not quite sure what to expect. Busy by the sounds of it.
Going g to try and limit myself with what I spend. But will defo pick up a copy of Stuart Brookes CV Book. Will pop by the fishing Outlet store and probably buy something I.dont need hopefully for pennies. Will have a look at the new ATTs bite alarms. They do look good. Will definitely be avoiding the food stalls.
Might see some of you there? I'll be the one not wearing Realtree. Skinny jeans with out soaks and definitely no Turkey teeth... I'm scared..
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In reply to Post #35
It’s this weekend 1&2 nd feb
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In reply to Post #32
How was the show? Anybody?
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In reply to Post #30
Thanks for the heads up.
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In reply to Post #29
May be a bit easier to get in as the market is not open on the same day this year 
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In reply to Post #29
In theory that should be fine but if the road is knackered you'll be stuck in it but maybe still get in at a reasonable time. When you come off the motorway go right. Don't listen to your sat nav if it wants to send you left.
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I hear the road into the show can get a but busy? Ill be leaving Epsom at 7 to be there for 9 or should i leave earlier?
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In reply to Post #27
Camo & leather apron...now that'd get some looks..member of Slipnot 
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I'm going Saturday...I might even wear some camo, we'll see...
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In reply to Post #25
Got mine for the saturday. Getting there very early.
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Looks to be a busy one with only tickets available for sunday
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In reply to Post #17
Where is the misinformation?
All i said was that if you are a small company you cant get a look in because of the exclusivity
aggrements that you have with your stall holders. I understand why you have these but its not fair on the the smaller start up that are trying to get a foot in the door. It also means that punters wont necessarily get the best deal or the best product!
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In reply to Post #22
When do tickets go sale as it crashes out every time I look?
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In reply to Post #21
To reply to the last few questions;
Traffic last year was chaos,due to being hit by 100mph wind gusts which caused us structural damage and meant delaying the show by a week, this meant the market wasn't obligated to be closed as they are for our scheduled date. Thus we had traffic for both events and lost one access point. The market is scheduled to be closed on our show date, so we don't anticipate any traffic issues, as was the case on the Sunday of last year- market is Saturday only.
FreeSpirit, Korda, Nash and Trakker will all have team members and rods from there ranges available to cast, get tuition, pick their brains, all for free. It would be worth contacting the brand in advance if you wish to try out a particular model, they will have all the popular models but maybe not the entire range.
Entry is advanced ticket only and we have sold out well in advance for the last shows.
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In reply to Post #17
I went to the Essex show last year and it was absolute chaos trying to get in, some people were stuck in queues all the way back to the motorway for hours.
What's been done to prevent a repeat of this in 2024?
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In reply to Post #19
Great post roley..Donny hey...might be tempted as long as there's no queue debacle like the NAS 
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In reply to Post #17
Good response - haven't been to a large show since the halycon sandown days and may even make the trip; will you be able to test-cast Freespirit Rods or just Kaizens?
Other than brand staff - assume you will also be turning away / charging a premium to those dressed in camo . . .?
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Can you pay on the door or do you need to buy tickets?
Actually just checked their web page and you do need a ticket. Dont think they are on sale yet tho?
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I run the Essex Carp Show and will add just this one comment to this thread.
There seems to be a fair degree of misinformation here, so here are some facts, direct from the horses mouth, so to speak and not Chinese whispers.
Our cheapest stand is £340+vat including shell scheme and lighting.
I will give just one example of why we honour exclusivity agreements with some exhibitors. Some years ago we had a koi pond designer approach us for a stand ( having never previously had any pond people approach us ), to display their glass fronted ponds. They wanted to do it properly and needed a largish stand to hold a pond which would weigh 7 tonnes, filled with water. We had to upgrade the flooring support, liaise with a specialist company to supply 7 tonnes of clean water, suitable for very valuable large koi. It was a fantastic success and great centre piece for the show, some of you may remember it. The following year we had 4 enquiries from pond companies wanting small stands, we turned all of them down, we will always protect our exhibitors investment so they can make a return at our show and I make no apology for that. Unfortunately the original company have not been able to exhibit for a couple of years but we hope to have them back.
This is what you get for your £14 entry+ ticket handlers fee.
A free film bundle from a host of subscription Carp media companies worth Approx £15 itself, this is emailed out to all ticket purchasers after the show.
6000 sq mtrs+ of carp brands, from the biggest players down to bespoke manufacturers, from the likes of 7 huge korda stands and their whole team, right down to the smaller unique companies like; Western Developments, Forgotten Flavours, Hadlow college and many many more. We have far more smaller stands than we do larger ones.
You can cast any rod in the range and get free tuition from the likes of Korda, FreeSpirit, Nash and Trakker with guidance from their team of anglers. Darrell Peck and Terry Edmonds were outside for Korda last year.
We have a free interactive area set aside for kids, where they have a go with a whip and get free gifts courtesy of companies, such as Korda, Cornz, Crafty Catcher and more.
5 quality slideshows on a huge 7mtr screen each day, this year we have; Freespirit, Korda, Ali Hamidi, Nash and Elliott Gray.
Weather permitting a huge outside Bivvy display.
Not only can you see the products in person, try them on or try them out but you can talk to the people who designed them and get a feel for the ethos behind each company.
Each and every exhibitor put in a massive amount of effort to showcase their products to you and each of them has a vested interest in giving you the very best deal they can, whether that be just a box of gas or a brand new product being launched at the show. We have a number of big product launches at the show from rods right down to end tackle.
If your interested in anything listed above, then its great value for a great day out in February. If not then no bother at all.
We are also launching our show at Doncaster Racecourse 5-6th April, which mirrors our long standing Essex show but for the North, so if the above sounds like a great day out and its to far, come and support the only show in the north.
Peace out.
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Done a bit of Exhibition work myself building shell schemes in the past ( hard work, long hours ) So I know they don't come in cheap. But there must be a lot of money in Emp if there paying out anywhere near that kid of money..
I'm with 55's. I don't normally go to these shows to see the likes of Korda, Nash etc.. I can see all that down me local soulless tackle retailer on a trading estate somewhere. It's the smaller niche brands you cant see anywhere else I'm there for.
Long gone are the days of a trestle table and banner pinned to the wall of a hall somewhere it seems...
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In reply to Post #13
I worked as an exhibition stand designer years ago, before a change of career, they’ve definitely never been cheap to build even in my day and that was thirty plus years ago. I might have assumed wrongly but I thought they were saying they’d paid 25k for the floor space, not the complete stand design, construction and set up. I might have the wrong emf of the (throwing) stick.
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The Essex show I always find far and away the best UK show and think Lee has done an amazing job of keeping his shows as close to real as possible. There will be stall holders at the show will less than £1k all in. They will be selling books, flavours or bobbins from old wallpaper tables. Lee knows he needs this kind of stall as well as the mega spend boys.
Nobody in their right mind would pay the entry fee to walk round a tackle megastore, and for me a couple of books and some niche bits of tackle or bait make the event worthwhile.
If you go there for NGT - or a couple of kilos of fake cell and a bucket of pellets, or to have a selfie with a Korda kid - then give it a miss.
An amazing amount of work for a very hard working and entertaining man - if this show were to go nothing Will fill the gap - and for someone who has loved the shows of the past he still manages to have the small guys in the mix.
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In reply to Post #11
£25k is peanuts for a professionally designed and built stand . . . I've worked on stands (admittedly not at small carp shows) with values well over £250k . . . .stands at the motor show for the major players (eg Ford) were well over £1M 20yrs ago . . !
Agree however you'd need to sell a lot of particles to recoup your £25k outlay; however remember its marketing so whilst you may not get an immediate ROI your customers remember your brand and will hopefully keep buying it over the next X yrs . . . .hence the value in the original investment.
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In reply to Post #9
I remember Graeme of Dymag telling me that his tiny stand at Sandown cost him £2300 for the weekend and that it was extra for every extra electrical socket. That was about twelve years ago.
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In reply to Post #9
That’s complete insanity. When I helped out a bit with Jag at Sandown and the northern show, their stand certainly wasn’t pokey, and from memory I think it was in the region of about 5k for the weekend. Which is still a good chunk of cash, once you factor in transport, hotels, food and drink and also it’s not like most of these companies just pick up all the stuff from the warehouse and dump it on a stand for a week, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to fore fill their normal shop/web orders. For months before they need to be producing additional stock to sell at the shows, so big additional capital outlay in materials up front as well. These shows aren’t cheap to attend for a manufacturer, so paying 25k just for the stand, either they know something I don’t, or they want their heads looking at.
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In reply to Post #9
I went a few years back (first time since the Dunstable days) never again... hated everything about it. We left after an hour and went to the pub.
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In reply to Post #7
25k... how large is the stall...
What is the going rate for a stall at these winter show these days? I'd imagine it's done on square meterage?
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In reply to Post #7
How much particle do you need to sell to recoup that back
Purchase prep packaging transport accommodation wages etc
Before you even turn a minimal profit
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In reply to Post #1
Couldnt get a stall this year as all the traders have exclusive deals with the organiser's so don't expect any bargains!
One particles company there has shelled out £25k for a stand on the proviso that no one else can sell particle.
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Almost zero bargains to be had, horrendous traffic setup. No thanks ever again.
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In reply to Post #4
The traffic was horrendous on the Saturday this year.
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In reply to Post #3
Don't forget the Turkey teeth and hair transplants.
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In reply to Post #2
And lots of camo avec beer guts . . .enjoy!
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In reply to Post #1
Junction 7 of the M11. Food can be a bit pricey. Expect a bit of a que to get in.. ???? 
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