Venue for London Book Fair 'still in balance'

01.11.13 | Roger Tagholm - The Bookseller

A return by the London Book Fair to the ExCeL Centre in Docklands is not a done deal, according to LBF non-executive chairman David Roche.
Opinion on a future return to the venue, deeply unpopular when the fair was hosted there in 2006, is split both within the UK trade and internationally.

London Book Fair is looking at possible sites due to “ongoing uncertainty” about current venue Earls Court after 2014. Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council has granted planning permission for Earls Court to be turned into residential properties, but a date for the demolition of the site has not been finalised.
Roche told The Bookseller: “We are hearing feedback on both options [Olympia and ExCeL]. The fair could be held at Olympia. It is certainly possible, but it would be much more cramped than Earls Court.” Overall layout would have to change were Olympia to be the chosen option. Roche said: “The stands would have to be closer together and you might have to have fewer seating areas.”

Tours to both sites by the fair’s owners Reed are continuing and Roche stresses that those trade members who have been on the trips recognise that ExCeL has changed considerably since 2006. “It’s totally different . . . from 2006 in terms of the investment and the legacy the Olympics has left,” he said.

Curtis Brown joint c.e.o. Jonny Geller said he couldn’t see “what the fuss is about”. He commented: “London is still one of the greatest cities on earth, whether you have to travel 20 minutes to get to an exhibition centre or not. Personally, I would prefer somewhere with decent wi-fi, infrastructure and toilets [rather] than an old warehouse next to a few restaurants in west London.”

But Peter Fritz at the Fritz Agency in Zurich said: “I would certainly not attend until I had credible reports on a vastly improved venue in all respects, starting with ‘transport’ and going round the alphabet, ending with ‘toilets’. I recall the endless lines of women waiting to get to the toilets, missing out on appointments. There would have to be credible proof that such conveniences have been quadrupled.”

On that specific question, which has been raised frequently, Roche said there were more toilets at ExCeL than either Earls Court or Olympia, “and we were even told they can be configured according to the gender balance of visitors”.

Clare Alexander of Aitken Alexander said that a move to ExCeL would mean US publishers staying away and the erosion of the fair’s importance. But George Gibson of Bloomsbury US said: “I think it’s too important to collapse because of location. I don’t think Americans will stay away, though fewer and fewer editors have been attending over the years anyway. Rights people will certainly go as long as European and other publishers attend, and I think they will.”
Nermin Mollaoglu of The Kalem Agency in Istanbul said. “Of course I would attend the book fair in ExCeL. We attend the book fair because of the meetings, business and, definitely, fun. It’s not important where we have meetings and business—and I am sure our good London-based friends can find some nice venues for parties in the ExCeL area.”

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