The Giant Flea Market
At Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet in Somerset (approx once a month).
Oh My God! I went there this morning and I have barely stopped talking about it because I am so flabbergasted by it. I try not to swear on these pages, but I’m not going to be able to stop myself, so look away now if you are easily offended: It was completely and utterly shit. It was huge, so I have never seen so much utter crap in my life for such extortionate prices. Have you seen the ‘I saw you coming’ sketch on the Harry and Paul show on Fridays? It’s like that, but on a massive scale.
Some of the stalls were legitimate; they specialised in things like antique lace, or postcards for collectors or military paraphernalia; but 90% of the stalls were simply utter crap. My Mum has some plastic orange food storage tubs from the 70s - she uses them for flour and sugar. £15 for the larger size and £12 for the medium one here!!! There was an iron cooking pan with a handle over the top - perfect for hanging over and cooking on a fire and the guy wanted £70 for it!!!! “They go for more than that on e-bay,” he said when I laughed. “Very popular with the travellers.” Then; by pure coincidence a bone fide genuine traveller came along as I was browsing the next stall and asked the guy how much is was. You could tell he was dithering - I was still in earshot and he knew it, so he had to offer the same price. The traveller had the same reaction as me, but was more vocal about it. “I usually pick these up for a fiver,” he said.
And that’s frankly a good example. Unless you’re looking for a collector’s item and you know how much things are really worth; you’re better off going to boot fairs and jumble sales. They were really trying to pass things off as trendy “vintage” when really everything was just a bit old. I found some bargains at the material stall right by the entrance, and that’s all I came away with. The £3 pounds entry fee wasn’t worth it for that. And frankly I felt as if I’d had my time wasted, as the thing is so big, it took well over an hour to look around - and after a while I stopped bothering to ask the prices of things. If you want a good thorough browse, then allow 2 to 3 hours. But make sure you’ve got a good size wad of cash you don’t mind lining the pockets with of the people who’ve seen you coming. You’ve been warned!
October 20th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I’ve tried to leave you a comment but am having difficulty in doing so.
This is my 3rd attempt!
Oh dear, what a shame you found all the stalls that give the rest of us a bad name. Did you go into the Showering Pavilion - where most of us are genuine dealers? Bearing in mind your comments I sincerely hope you didn’t. As you say, there were some bona fide dealers outside, many of whom I know, and who are not in the habit of fleecing the public. The rest of the outside stallholders queue up on the day and are generally ‘fair weather’ sellers.
I don’t know what you were expecting, but most visitors to the Flea are thrilled to find there is so much to browse, and spend several hours browsing and finding bargains. If you got round in an hour and only found rubbish, then it’s hardly surprising you were disappointed.
One other thing bothers me, though - the fact that your post is dated 29 September and Sue Ede’s Giant Flea Market at Shepton Mallet was not held on that day. There was one on 31 August and the next one, the most recent, was 12 October. If you attended a Flea Market at the Bath & West Showground on 28 September it should certainly NOT be confused with the major one held 6 or 7 times a year run by Sue Ede.
I hope others will not be put off by your comments and will make up their own minds about the quality of some of the items and the sellers. Many bloggers buy at the Flea and later sell the items on their websites. They seek out items tucked under and behind other bits and pieces, negotiate with the seller and generally come away with bargains which they are then able to sell on to others through the internet at realistic prices.
I am guessing that you won’t be turning up at my pitch in the Showering Pavilion at the next Giant Flea Market at Shepton on 14 December, but if you decide to give it another chance I shall be delighted to meet you.
Sue
October 21st, 2008 at 9:21 am
Hi Sue. I’m sorry, I often write stuff in my notebook to type up later and I should’ve put that the flea market I was referring to was actually right back on the 13th July. I’m afraid I don’t know who ran it.
Thank you for your comments; and I probably will give it another go and have more of a rummage, but as I mentioned, I pretty much gave up because every time I asked the stall holder for the price of something I liked, things were so expensive, it wasn’t worth even starting to haggle. I don’t know if it was called the Showering Pavilion, but I did go inside the large indoor area, where on the balcony I found those orange plastic tubs. Though, I agree the better stalls were definitely inside there.
I suppose I was expecting to find items that often can’t be found in shops any more; that have a feel of history and could have interesting stories to tell; but for reasonable prices as stall holders don’t have the overheads of antique shops; and I wouldn’t expect such good quality either. However, most of what I found was simply what I’d class as second hand and a bit old, but I may as well pay the same price for brand new.
I thought I might find a jug - I’m after an ordinary ceramic jug of no particular make. I asked the price of about 6 or 7 jugs and the price varied between £12 and £30 for similar smallish sized ones. I’m not prepared to pay that when I can buy just as nice ceramic jugs from M&S or Ikea for that price. They may well have been bargains if they were of a particular designer; which is why I mentioned it is probably the place for you if you know what collector’s item you’re looking for. But last year I bought two nice large ceramic jugs from a boot fair for £1 each. That’s what I call a bargain!
I’m sorry you had trouble leaving your comment. I’ll look into that, but it may be just this delay because I am bombarded with spam so I approve all comments before they appear on the website. (I approve everything that isn’t spam.)
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Hi Helen
Indeed, the July Flea Market was run by Sue Ede but it was an extra one in the calendar, only arranged with the Bath & West about a month before instead of being included in the dates set at the beginning of the year.
I was inside selling the vintage linens and textiles which are my stock in trade but I know there were a vast number of outside pitches because of the good weather. Anyone can fill their car and go along on the day, and because many regulars were unable to rearrange their calendars to fit in this extra Fair there were plenty of indoor spaces for others to book. Of course that doesn’t mean to say that it wasn’t a regular who was selling the items you were looking at and I appreciate your comments.
I generally take the same items that I would take to the 3-day Antiques Fair, with a few extra cheaper items which would be out of place at the other Fair, and my prices do not vary from one Fair to another. The rest of the time I sell my stock from Dairy House Antiques, which is my antiques shop/centre near Shaftesbury (see the link on my blog) or my website. My prices are set according to what I paid for an item and the profit I need to stay in business. This may mean that you would find them too expensive, but if a particular length of fabric or piece of china has hung around for some time nearly all dealers will sell at a lower price to move the item on. It’s always worth asking for a best price, but do be prepared for the fact that an aggressive approach by a prospective purchaser is bound to be met by an equally aggressive response from a seller. I love to chat to everyone who comes to my stall, and will often reduce an item more than I should when dealing with a friendly buyer, but I give short shrift to someone who is rude or tries to bully me into reducing a price.
Remember also that the majority of people selling at a run of the mill carboot are just clearing their houses of unwanted items which owe them very little return. This is where you will get the bargains for obvious reasons. For those of us whose business it is to buy and sell, a proper return on our outlay is the difference between success and failure in business.
If you do decide to come to the Flea in December do please come and say hello. I stand half-way down the first aisle, next to the middle roller shutter door, and opposite the sweet man.
Sue
October 24th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Well Sue, now I feel guilty because I know exactly which stall you were at and I should have mentioned you in my original review. I did in fact buy a beautiful blue silk tablecloth and a linen baguette bag from you! I suppose I admit to leaving this out to greater impact my feelings about the rest of the flea market. I told my husband about your stall at the time because both times I came up to it you had a large crowd because you sell things at reasonable prices. I said that I bet you actually take a far bigger profit at the end of the day for selling a greater number of items at prices people can afford, rather than the others outside who weren’t selling much at all. I just hope the other sellers notice your popularity and also notice why!