Bristol show, Thornbury Leisure Centre

Phil O

Phil O

Western Thunderer
Hi All,

Next weekend is the Bristol Show at the Thornbury Leisure Centre. Friday 3 May 12.30 - 19.00, Saturday 4 May 10.00 - 17.00 and Sunday 5 May 10.00 - 16.30.

I will be there with Plymouth and SECMRC layout Ruan, we are stuck away upstairs, please say hello if you see me,I'm the only one with a beard in the club.
 
Phil O

Phil O

Western Thunderer
A retrospective of the show, we were stuck up in a room on the 1st floor, for what appeared to be no reason, there were plenty of gaps in the other halls to accommodate the layouts and demonstrators. We all believe that we had a reduced footfall of visitors, it not being particularly well advertised that there was additional layouts etc. Upstairs.

The standard of the layouts was a lot better than in more recent years and presentation of them was better. Some additional small traders would be appreciated, to cater for us model makers and kit builders.

All of the above is my personal opinion, others may beg to differ.
 
M

mswjr

Western Thunderer
I stopped going a couple of years back , mainly because of the lack of traders, just lots of box shifters.
 
T

Tim V

Western Thunderer
I originally wasn't going to go, but a friend embarrassed me into going.

To put this into context, I stopped going to the Thornbury show about ten years ago. The layouts were very samey, and of poor quality. Significant that the winning layout of the Bristol Buffer (what happened to that award) was invariably won by the visiting layout, never by one of the association layouts. Small traders stopped going as well.

So I didn't plan to go, but decided - last minute to go. And I'm glad I did.

How many others saw the radio controlled battery operated Wickham Trolley in 4mm scale, or the radio controlled bus (in hall 4)? Plus there were some very good layouts - in a different league to the layouts of old. I'm not going to name them, because you can't please all the people all of the time, lots I just walked past, but some just drew me in.

But a lot of traders with tables of boxes - I couldn't tell if they were new or second-hand and I couldn't be bothered to find out.

Will I go next year? I think so.
 
NHY 581

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
I went, for the first time in years last year, mainly to see what changes Warners had made and also because I get a free ticket via RMweb membership. I went on the Friday and really enjoyed it. Good layouts, not busy and nice to walk around.
Same this year. Free ticket, good layouts and not busy, though I thought busier than the Friday last year.
I totally sgree with Phil. The upstairs 'hall' was completely superfluous and there was plenty of room downstairs to accommodate what had been plonked upstairs.
Traders didn't really interest me but I felt there were too many box shifters, all vying for the same customer base. High prices as well. The issue for the smaller trader is cost. They pay for their travel, their overnight and their tables. For many of the smaller traders this overall cost is prohibitive( tax stuff not withstanding ). The bigger box shifters...er...shift their boxes and for them it's easier to swallow these costs. Warners are happy because the floor space is paid for and this offsets, if not pays for the layouts etc.
I bought a few books and caught up with quite a few people and yes, I'll be back next year. It's the one of the very few 'big' shows I do.

Rob
 
PaulRhB

PaulRhB

Member
Phil O said:
A retrospective of the show, we were stuck up in a room on the 1st floor, for what appeared to be no reason, there were plenty of gaps in the other halls to accommodate the layouts and demonstrators. We all believe that we had a reduced footfall of visitors, it not being particularly well advertised that there was additional layouts etc. Upstairs.
Click to expand...

Well I found you and waited patiently for gaps as it was well patronised while I was upstairs.
I actually spent quite a while up there as I went out in the balcony to have lunch and then watched the two layouts some more. I think they used your layouts to draw people up to the other more static stands as it was clear on the plan.

https://flic.kr/p/2pPfw1S


https://flic.kr/p/2pP9WRe


https://flic.kr/p/2pP8bgP
 
Phil O

Phil O

Western Thunderer
Paul, good to hear that you found your way upstairs, to our little show within a show. Those that stopped and chatted all made appreciative comments about the layout.
Thanks.
 
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