No More CLA Gamefair!

[beechessam]

But is the CLA a working mans organisation? Countryside Landowners Association. Not very working man!

I will miss it, I've been going for many years, having done both CLA and MGF this year I vowed not to go back to the MGF and stick to the CLA, looks like I won't be doing either now.

Compared to the MGF the CLA is excellent value for money.

[Bamburi]

if as some of the posters have said its greed why on earth would the CLA stop doing something that is earning them "mega bucks " it doesnt make good business sense

the game fair has been getting smaller and smaller to get the figures to work, they put the pitch fees up but that was false economy so it made a loss , accept that its a business too , its a shame its gone but I dont think it'll be gone forever once some business men get their grubby little mitts on an idea to make it pay

[fusey]

I got told but don't shoot me down 150.000 people at £35 is £5.250000 that's on tickets alone then the pitch prices on top of that

[Bamburi]

I got told but don't shoot me down 150.000 people at £35 is £5.250000 that's on tickets alone then the pitch prices on top of that

a large amount of those people will have had free tickets especially if they are already members of the cla , mine were free

[Stihl 090]

You are quite correct that I don't go to work to loose money, no one does but me being a little business man, if my over heads are more than say 40% outlay I look at why my costs are that high and make cut backs where necessary.
I cannot see in my little brain how they spend 4.5 just putting it on. If a farmer is charging them 500k+ to borrow a few paddocks for a bit of time I've a couple here they can use!
Going back to my original figures, they could have 100 full time people on the books to organise the show on 30k a piece or more depending on wages paid. So where is this other 4.2 going??
It would be very interesting Angelo, as a member to get the financial figures when published and have a read through!
Shame for any event go under that has been long established. Our local country man's fair almost went s similar way when they started charging stall holders silly money, silky ticket prices at £24 then this year back tracked with tickets at £18 I think. But you could walk around the showing 2hrs within nothing overly exciting. There was not one decent dog stand there, just a few small fly by night types who jump on the ever increasing gundog wagon, selling basic 1lb dummys,few whistles in fancy colours couple of leads and a few bowls. Trouble was there was about 5 of them!
We have a friend who does rope work, and as a demonstrator gets his pitch free and sells his products, we have another friend who runs the sussex stick makers guild, they demonstrate as well, but they have to pay for there stall and are unable to sell there sticks because there are other stick sellers!! So have to pay top whak just for being there to promote what is surely one of the oldest countryside traditions.
Madness I tell you!!!!

[vicky payne]

The costs must be enormous: venue hire; putting in the water, electric, services, rings, marquees; cost of road management systems; security and parking control; insurance; etc. And though many of us pay our £35 to get in an awful lot of people don't, from CLA members, to exhibitors friends and family. When the CLA have tried to clamp down on free tickets people have got grumpy.

Both visitors and exhibitors have found the event too costly over recent years. Exhibitors can no longer cover costs as sales from fairs deminish, with many visitors just looking to try stuff out before buying cheaper on-line. Visitors have also got a bit bored with the same old stuff...sma eareas displays, same trade stands, and less and less actual countryside stuff.

I think there is a way forward for THE Game Fair. There needs to be a refocus on the countryside to include farming, forestry, conservation, hunting, shooting, fishing, and other diversified things like archery, walking, canicross. There needs to be less 'lifestyle' stuff (jacuzzis, hottubs, fire pits....).
Although using different venues has been a nice way of spreading the benefit of the fair to different areas maybe choosing one permanent home, or utilising existing agricultural show venues where all the infrastructure is already there would lower costs.

We need this once a year shop window...but it needs a re-vamp.

[Amberquest]

I'd read that stalls 2x4m started at something like £3000. For a small business, how much stock with small profit margins would they need to shift just to break even? It must be very difficult for businesses to decide whether it's worth a punt going

[Dummy1]

The costs must be enormous: venue hire; putting in the water, electric, services, rings, .

All services are paid for by each stand, on top of their rent (and got charged a fortune for it!)

[trekmoor]

I never have been any kind of a business man ..... I even let my wife handle all our finances ! I therefor cannot comment from the point of view of the people who run this Gamefair or that of the stall holders.

I ceased to go to the CLA a good number of years ago for several reasons. I thought getting in cost too much, I thought the food selling stalls charged far too much and I thought there were more and more stalls that didn't interest me at all as the years went by.

I still occasionally go to the smaller Gamefairs but the last one of those I went to had fewer shooting/fishing type stalls than there used to be.
I think the entry money will have to come down a bit in order to attract people back to gamefairs . By the time I've paid the entry fee, paid the cost of getting there and maybe paid for an overnight stay I could have about £100 pounds or more to spend in a local shooting/fishing shop.
Just my opinion.

Wullie

[Hanrebor]

I have to say we as a family are gutted that the CLA game fair has been cancelled ... and understand the reasons behind it however we will certainly miss this yearly event (we have been doing for around 19 years !!) and our daughter was nearly born at one of them .... Belvoir Castle 2005 ! where I had to make a quick trip home for her delivery some 2 hours later !! . We have looked forward to this every year ... not just catching up with friends from the UK and abroad but the social side in the evening when we sit with good friends and family and sample a few bottles of home made produce whilst camping. We all enjoy the gundog competitions etc and enjoy a bit of shopping ... a great place to stock up !!

The other fairs don't seem to be able to offer the same camping facilities (or they are when the children are back in school !).

It would be nice to think that maybe one day it will return !