The CLA Game Fair at Ragley Hall in 2016 has been cancelled. The last three years has seen a steady decline in visitor numbers and after 57 years, the CLA has finally decided to stop the event as it is now financially unsustainable.
On Monday 21st September ‘The Country Land and Business Association’ (CLA) announced that it will no longer run the annual CLA Game Fair. This decision includes cancelling the planned event scheduled to be at Ragley Hall in 2016.
The decision has been taken by the CLA Board after the event failed to generate enough income in each of the last three years. According to CLA accounts for the year ending 30th November 2014, the Game Fair income was £3.9m, but expenditure was £4.276m – meaning a loss of £376,000.
The fair has been running since 1958 and the last two events were estimated to have attracted more than 100,000 visitors.
Leaders of the CLA, which represents more than 33,000 members in England and Wales, said a crowded summer of events had led to falls in attendance at the Game Fair in recent years, with ticket sales falling by 21% since 2011.
The future of the show is unclear; however the CLA has said that it would soon begin a consultation to invite proposals from other organisations to see if the show can continue at some point in the future..
You can read the full statement released by the CLA below.
STATEMENT ON FUTURE OF THE CLA GAME FAIR
The CLA regrets that it will no longer run the annual CLA Game Fair. This decision includes cancelling the planned event scheduled to be at Ragley Hall in 2016.
The decision has been taken by the CLA Board after the event failed to generate enough income in each of the last three years.
Director General of the CLA Helen Woolley said: “The Game Fair is an important and well loved event with a long tradition. It is a difficult decision that we deeply regret having to take”.
“We are extremely proud of the Game Fairs that we have put on in recent years and we are grateful to our Game Fair team that have delivered these high quality, professional, events”.
“Unfortunately an increasingly crowded summer calendar of outdoor events has contributed to falling attendance. This has led to the event failing to generate enough income and has made the event financially unsustainable”.
“Over the last three years the Board made the decision to invest in the Game Fair because of our strong desire to turn the event around. We have been able to make this investment because of the otherwise robust financial position of the CLA. However we can no longer ask CLA members to allow their membership subscriptions to underwrite the losses the event makes.
“We are clear that the Game Fair can no longer be run by the CLA in its current form. We will, however, begin a period of consultation in which we will invite proposals from other organisations on how the Game Fair might be able to continue.”
“The CLA remains committed to providing industry-leading advice and support, running a busy schedule of other national and regional events and being an effective lobbying voice for rural business.”
