London Boat Show

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The Collins Stewart London Boat Show at ExCeL.

The London Boat Show is held each January at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in the heart of London, just opposite the O2 and the centre of London's business and entertainment centre. It is a very large event, now in its 54th year, which uses ExCeL's two 32,500 square metre halls. It is one of the two main annual boat shows in the United Kingdom, alongside the Southampton Boat Show. Both are organised by National Boat Shows, which is a subsidiary of the British Marine Federation, the trade association for the UK boating industry. The 2008 show, known as the Collins Stewart London Boat Show for sponsorship reasons, ran from 11-20 January.

The Show features a wide range of boats, boating equipment and clothing with interactive sections and feature attractions devoted to boating. There is also a display of tall boats and other vessels in the Royal Victoria Dock immediately outside the exhibition centre.

One of the major benefits of ExCeL Exhibition Centre is that it is an on-water location where, every year, the show hosts a dedicated marina and a naval ship (either a destroyer or frigate). ExCeL is also the only exhibition venue in London that can host a regatta.

Power boats at the London Boat Show.

[edit] History

The first London Boat Show was held at Olympia, before moving to the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in 1957 due to increase in demand. A popular feature of the show during its time at Earls Court was the use of the venue's pool area to host floating boats for visitors' inspection. Up until the Second World War, sailing was very much a sport for the rich, but in the post-war years, with the launch of cheaper boats such as the dinghy, sailing became accessible to the middle classes and so there was demand for a show which could satisfy this trend.

The London Boat Show moved to ExCeL in 2004 because the old venue could no longer accommodate the vast selection of boats and equipment suppliers that visitors demanded from the show. Additionally the venue couldn’t accommodate the larger boats that visitors wanted to see and buy.