How come dealers can’t wait to escape from a fair? I don’t mean all of them, but there are some serial offenders….

So a postcard – or antique – fair is advertised as being open to the public for stated hours. Doesn’t that obligate the dealers to keep their stalls open until closing time? They are, after all, part of a shop for the day, and you wouldn’t expect M & S to shut down an hour early.

But whatever the advertised closing time of an event, you can bet some dealers will be itching to leave at anything up to an hour early. So they pack up their boxes and trolley their stock out, creating a ripple effect on other dealers who then feel it’s ok for them to go, and an unsettling effect on the public left in the hall. It’s unfair on the show organiser and on customers, and it’s just not professional!