The Outdoors Show 2009

After visiting the Outdoors Show at the NEC on Friday I can only say..'what a load of rubbish'. It seems that in recent years the shows organisers have forgotten what the public want and have slowly turned the show into a 'car-boot sale' where anyone wishing to sell 'bric a brac' and offload rubbish can come and punt it in the warmth and comfort of the NEC.

This years show had only one major gear and equipment manufacturer in attendance (DMM), when in the past it would have been an opportunity for manufacturers to showcase new ideas and equipment and to meet the public etc etc.

I was obviously very dissapointed this year and will not be attending again.
Get rid of the tat stalls, limit the indipendent shops offloading their 'hard to sell items', cut down on the travel companies, and limit the amount of companies pushing the same product (there were 4 fly-by-night opportunists with VW caravanettes on show selling van-hire hollidays, all with a great niche product ha ha....Not!)

Next year I will save my money and instead take a trip to Keswick to view the multitude of shops on the high street, and get a coffee that does not cost £2.50!