London International Custom Show cancelled

The second London International Custom show (L.I.C.S.), due to be held at Earls Court this May, has been cancelled.

Whilst the number of stands booked at the event was around 100, representing over a 100% increase on last year’s show, the organizers are pointing to cash-flow issues among the potential exhibitor community in the UK as being a primary factor in the decision.

The organizers are saying that all booth payments so far are being refunded and that whilst they regret having to take this decision, the project has simply become a victim of the times.

As a start-up event last year the London International Custom Show exceeded expectations and had proven that a London venue could generate a viable attendance in the context of the UK.

The UK market has long been in need of a professionally organized custom show in order to help consolidate the growth of the past decade, and to provide a foundation for dealers, builders and vendors to take the market forward.

The event was being staged at London’s famous Earl’s Court Arena, and this year’s 2nd annual would have seen it move within the facility to prestigious and primary space, providing an environment in which the industry would have been able to showcase itself to maximum benefit to a clearly enthusiastic public.

The event was being organized by a professional and reputable show organizer, Pioneer Global Media, and that firm’s decision not to pursue the project is regretted.

AMD Magazine had endorsed the two-prize (best domestic and ‘best international’) custom bike builder competition as an Affiliate event to its Official World Championship of Custom Bike Building program, and many UK and Continental European builders have voiced their disappointment that the project will not be proceeding at this time.

Whilst there appears to be no immediate prospect of the L.I.C.S. project as such being revived, it is to be hoped that it won’t be long before the market has an alternate to rally behind.

One proposal that is finding favor is that, after the summer, those with an interest in seeing such a show emerge in the UK market gather for a market ‘town hall meeting’ to see what ideas and options could be developed for a possible event in the UK in 2010, in the hope that economic conditions will be better by then.

This entry was posted on 22/04/2009 at 07:32 pm and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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