Harrogate to receive £1m boost as event marks 60th year

The Flooring Show has continued its contract with the venue until 2024, bringing an economic impact of circa £1,000,000 to the district.

The UK flooring industry is worth an estimated £2bn, and The Flooring Show is its flagship annual event. The largest and longest-established large-scale event of its kind in the UK, the three-day show brings more than 4,000 people to Harrogate each September. More than 3,000 buyers visit 150 exhibitors, who bring around 1,000 staff.

Alex Butler, event director at The Flooring Show, said: “The show is an important driver in the flooring sector. It’s used to launch new products, increase brand awareness, and meet new and existing customers. A large proportion of exhibitors return year after year, highlighting how worthwhile it is for their business.”

As 2022 marks its 60th anniversary, the show, planned for September 18-20, is preparing a feature on its enduring connection to Harrogate.

Ms Butler said: “There are individuals who have attended every single show; there are family-run businesses that through the generations have attended. That’s why they have such fondness for it. As The Flooring Show has grown, their businesses have also grown, so we’ve been on this journey together. That heritage piece is really, really important to us. Competitors come and go, but we remain the strongest at Harrogate Convention Centre.”

Even though the convention centre had been kitted out as an NHS Nightingale hospital in 2020, there was no doubt the show would return.

Ms Butler said: “We had to have an open conversation with our exhibiting community about finding alternative options because we weren’t sure how long the convention centre would be a Nightingale, and there was huge push-back from the exhibitors. The Flooring Show is inextricably linked to Harrogate. They love everything about Harrogate Convention Centre – its central location, its proximity to local amenities – they’re able to entertain clients when they finish the show. In a nutshell, they love it.”

Organisers work closely with the Majestic Hotel and St George Hotel to accommodate the thousands of buyers.

Ms Butler is confident there will be another 60 years of the show, and that the exhibitions sector will also make a strong return.

She said: “At the beginning of the pandemic, all exhibition organisers had a worry that technology would overtake face-to-face with virtual events, but actually it was the opposite: people became fatigued with screen-time. The flooring industry is very much about the social element as well. You miss what you can’t have, and people missed that opportunity to have business meetings face-to-face, and shake hands. We’re social animals at the end of the day – we can’t exist in our little bubbles.”

Paula Lorimer, director of Harrogate Convention Centre, said: “Harrogate Convention Centre is the lynchpin of the hospitality sector, bolstering B&B, hotel, bar and restaurant bookings. Our reputation in the North as the town of choice for exhibition and trade conferences is second to none, and it’s a history and reputation we aim to build on. We look forward to giving the Flooring Show delegates a warm Yorkshire welcome for their 60th celebrations.”