Familiar Faces

“It’s just another case of the industry meeting the industry” was one of the things we were told when talking with colleagues about the new London Yacht, Jet & Prestige Car Show, which is currently taking place in the beautiful (though slightly less practical) location of Billingsgate Market in the City Of London.

There have been various attempts of creating a ‘proper’ yacht show in London for a long time and various attempts of making the original London Boat Show a real super yacht event (or at least a boat show with a yacht section worth calling it that), and, frankly, it didn’t look good so far. Boat shows in the UK often end up family fun days out (including bouncy castle), which in itself isn’t really a bad thing, but unfortunately that’s not really what the professionals in the industry are looking for. Of course there are other shows worldwide in the calendar, culminating in the one and only Monaco Yacht Show in September. On the other hand, London should really be a perfect place, too. The rich people love the city and it seems only logical that the world’s favourite place for joining a never ending traffic jam in your shiny Ferrari would also be the place where one would go shopping for the next yacht, jet or prestige vehicle…

So, here we are, 8-10 of April, Billingsgate Market and also a little in-water part at St Katherine’s Docks, though this was hardly worth mentioning and one would not have noticed without being told… We went on the opening day and came home with a positive impression. Okay, it is really mostly the industry meeting the industry and you’d find yourself mostly talking with the familiar faces (luckily with a bit more time than one has in Monaco!). There are some teething problems, too. Running the show during half terms means many people who would be interested in attending are probably gone skiing in the Alps. The location is fine, but exhibitors struggled to get their stuff through the doors, we have heard that particularly the cars suffered! And it was so far rather ’boutique’… but then again it was the first time! We have seen quite a few people walking the show with their eyes open, trying to gage whether or not it would be interesting for them to come back next year with a booth.

It’s looking promising though. Hoping the organisers will listen carefully to exhibitors’ and visitors’ feedback, then the London Yacht, Jet & Prestige Car Show will be here to stay. And hopefully we will even see a bit more of the glamour and after parties that makes the Monaco show so important!