Britain’s biggest festive show axed
‘The cons far outweigh the pros’ says organiser of Romsey Boxing Day meet
Organisers of the Romsey Annual Classic Car and Bike Meet on Boxing Day – Britain’s biggest festive classic car event – have announced that this year’s event has been cancelled.
The event, for pre-1976 vehicles, has been staged since 2002 and has been known to attract more than 1000 vehicles and many more visitors to the Hampshire town in recent years. It has also raised more £40,000 for charity; 2018’s gathering alone netted more than £9000 for Prostate Cancer UK.
However, organiser Steve Biddlecombe – who is facing a number of challenging issues – said: ‘I cannot help but fear that my very good luck with it is coming to an end. I have decided to quit at the top rather than see the event go downhill.’
He says that the show’s incredible popularity is one of the main reasons why it impossible to continue: ‘With just six marshals to cover all the ground and issues we get on the day, there are simply too few of us and finding willing volunteers, with a good classic car and bike knowledge, gets harder each year. On top of that, we outgrew the current site many years ago and there simply isn’t a larger or better one.’
Among the car parks used to display vehicles was that of a local supermarket, which indicated earlier this year that it might open on Boxing Day, thus meaning that parking spaces would be needed for its customers. This is no longer happening, but redevelopment in the town is threatening other car parks.
In addition, so many visitors coming into town has created problems in the streets close to the main event. Steve said: ‘Inconsiderate parking has resulted in a lot of complaints and grief thrown in my direction. It’s been made very clear to me, on numerous occasions, that many close proximity residents “hate” the event… so to be honest, it’s just not so much fun running it anymore.
‘Sadly the cons far outweigh the pros.’