There are lots of things I could say but they would only be repeats of what has been said before by me.  Why an earth they tried a 3 day show over a notoriously difficult weekend is beyond me.  Coming so close to the more established LRO event at Peterborough in about 10 days time as well does not help.

There are some positives here in that the showground at Stoneleigh is ideally situated for travel from most parts of the country.  The ground is nice and tidy though some of the facilities were of poor standard.  It surely cannot be very difficult to keep toilets clean and hot water in the showers?  All you have to do is make sure there are enough of them and that a maintenace crew service them regulary.  This seems to be beyond some organisers and Stoneleigh suffered here. To be fair not as bad as some places I have been but had the show attracted another few hundred customers or even (wishful thinking) a few thousand the place would have been a mess.  Another positive is that the organisers were at the event and could be seen walking around and could be reached when necessary, compared to other shows this is good.

The arena events were also somewhat tired with very little going on for the kids.  The surprising thing is that they ran the same schedule all 3 days, so if you were a camper planning a weekend at LandRover Max and had seen all the events the first day and spent the couple of hours or so looking at the trade stands what to do then?

Hopefully the organisers listen to the traders and make a determined effort to change for next year.  My suggestions would be a new weekend, how about one in July! 2 days duration at most, better planning on the arena events and more attention to the facilities (The organisers stayed in a hotel).  It would be really nice not to have to get up before 6.00am to be certain of hot water in the showers.

All things considered 4/10   Must do better.

So if you are coming to Stoneleigh to see us we are in the big tent with APB Trading, not sure of the stand number but look for the Eezi Awn and Campmor kit, we're in there.

If you have any requests or want to check stock before the show please e-mail.  Bear in mind the van is packed up on Wednesday and we are on our way Thursday to start setting up. 

We look forward to seeing you

Currently I am sitting at home working (and watching Ronin) at the same time.  Orders are coming through OK and the site functions, it is just that while the system is down we will not be able to handle e-mail enquiries tomorrow or update the order status.

Our apologies for this, hopefully things will be back on soon.

Thoughts on the show..... Well my own opinion (and that shared by a number of my trade colleagues) would suggest the days of the Billing show are numbered.  For those traders who remember the early years of the show, and I am not one of them, though I was an early visitor to the show long before Touring Gear came about, things have changed.  I would suggest the trade stands have dropped in number by about 50% and the visitor numbers are down by about 75%.

I am setting myself up here, I am sure some organisation or other will point out that it was another 'classic Billing show' with thousands through the gates etc etc.  In some ways the old favourites are still there.  Cold showers (again) Running out of water (again) Blocked toilets (again) Vehicle theft (again) Less room to camp (again) get the picture?  I am unsure how it has improved, I only see the issue from a trade perspective though which may be blinkered / biased / honest depending which hat you wear.   I am told however that it now costs £15.00 per adult for a day ticket and £10.00 per child, so a family of four = £50.00 add in the food costs and travelling to the show etc and it soon becomes an expensive gig. 

I remember going to the show as a punter and struggling to see down the aisles for folk going around and I could wander around all day and barely see the same stand twice.  One year I even went there Saturday and Sunday because I felt I had missed some of it  (I think it used to cost a fiver to get in)  In those days you only had the Billing show, the other events had not started so for a one off weekend all the trade piled into Billing stacked up their wares and the folk flooded in, it was great.  Nowadays everybody wants to run a show and running the events has become big business and the organiser is most likely the biggest winner, their profits may be down due to the current 'Credit Crunch' (but at least they are making a profit) but they dont loose out if the weather is bad or the showers are cold or the toilet is.... done that already, sorry.

The trouble is Billing is just not a show site, it is a camping and caravan site and it probably does that very well, the facilities cope OK and the site has enough attractions.  Add in say 10,000 people over 3 days with 70% of those on Saturday and it will struggle, I heard a rumour about parking problems on Saturday, another side effect of the onsite building program no doubt.

Me thinks it days are numbered.

The next event is the LRM show at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire.  This is a purpose built show site and should offer much better facilities with a good central location.  The question is can LRM (and the new publisher Dennis) deliver a good event on what is sometimes a tricky weekend.  Time will tell.

Must finish unloading the van. 

See ya.

Our apologies if this is upseting your enjoyment and 'retail experience' of our website.  The developers are working on it now, hopefully back to normal very soon.  Thanks. 

We will be closed on Friday 19th June and Monday 21st June.  We will be trading at the LRW show at Royal Bath and West showground on Saturday and Sunday.  We are currently packing and sorting stock but will be at the show site on Friday and out of e-mail communication.  We are due back on Monday and in the office proper on Tuesday. 

We will try to ensure all orders placed before 2.00pm on Thursday 17th are dispatched.  Orders recieved after this time may not leave until Tuesday22nd.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

We are on a stand with APB Trading at the show.  If you are visting please pop along to see us.