THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 115, July 2022
Cat of the month: Sohla El-Waylly, Kerb, Manchester
Indies say slimmed-down London fair was productive Merchants want to see more big-hitting exhibitors return, but report that this year’s LWF was a worthwhile exercise
V
isitor numbers at the London
an opportunity to access free wine than to
forced to choose between the Dusseldorf
Wine Fair fell by about a
engage seriously with exhibitors.
event and the UK fair.
third this year, but organisers
Brintex, which runs the fair, says visitor
Some of the independents who spoke
maintain the policy of charging most
numbers dropped to 8,822 people over
to The Wine Merchant were disappointed
people to attend was the right one.
the three days. But it was braced for such
that they had been charged to attend
The entry fee was first introduced in
a fall, given the ongoing problems created
a slimmed-down show, with many not
2019, the last time the show took place
by Covid, as well as the threat on day one
qualifying for any financial help with travel.
before two years of Covid disruption. The
of a Tube strike. The decision by ProWein
charge is intended to reinforce a sense of
to rearrange its show for the London Wine
exhibiting suppliers which enabled them
value in attending, and to discourage many
Fair’s original dates in June also caused
to enter Olympia for free, and Brintex
of the visitors who treat the fair more as
problems, with several exhibitors being
allocated a number of bursaries to assist
Many indies received codes from
with travel costs. John Chapman, managing director of the Oxford Wine Company, had not realised there was an entry fee. “When I saw that I almost fell off my chair, and I probably said a few expletives at the same time,” he says. “But thinking about it, it’s actually not a bad thing in principle because that in itself kept out a lot of people who are not helping the overall scope of the fair.” Chapman says he pays to attend other major European wine fairs and believes London should retain the same policy. “The plus point was that it wasn’t what the London Wine Fair had started to become, which is like a clone of Imbibe Live, where you have to fight your way around For 15 years, Kasia Smith dreamt of opening her own wine shop. This summer it finally happened when Finley’s in Hoxton, east London, opened for business. Full story on page 6. Only about half of revenue comes from walk-in custom
and fight to speak to somebody,” he says. “Having been to all the big fairs in Europe this year, it felt on the functional level a
