Case study: The London Card Show at Jockey Club
The event
On 11 and 12 May 2024, card enthusiasts from across the UK and Europe gathered at Sandown Park Racecourse for Europe’s biggest card show. The London Card Show, which brings card collectors of all genres together, has flourished from ten tables and 40 people when it began in 2021, to 260 tables a day and 4,000 people only three years later.
The London Card Show has been held at Sandown Park Racecourse since April 2022 and offers attendees the chance to discover, trade, and connect with fellow card devotees. In addition to card buying, selling and trading, the show offers a huge range of interactive activities for all ages and interests including the London Card Show Main Stage, Kids Zone, VR Zone, Retro Gaming, Creator Studio and much more.
The spaces
Organisers The London Card Show previously booked the Esher Hall for their event, however, they have now moved up to the larger Surrey Hall. The largest of the two exhibition halls at Sandown Park Racecourse, Surrey Hall is directly adjacent to the main entrance and registration foyer and provides an excellent ground floor drive-in facility with just under 3,000 square metres of space. The hall enjoys natural daylight and features multiple loading doors and over four metres of headroom for larger displays. With an organiser’s office, dedicated catering areas and adjacent seminar rooms, Surrey Hall has the flexibility to cater for large scale events.
Location
As the event attracts attendees from all over the UK, the organisers needed a venue that was centrally located, accessible to London and close to all major transport routes. Sandown Park ticks all those boxes, being within the M25, easily accessible via the A3 and only 15 miles from Southwest London. It is also within a ten-minute walk of Esher train station, which connects to London Waterloo, and a 30-minute drive from London Heathrow Airport and 45 minutes from London Gatwick Airport.
The organisers were also searching for a location with plentiful access to nature and the great outdoors. Located in the leafy county of Surrey, Sandown Park Racecourse offers an abundance of beautiful outdoor breakout spaces to provide respite from the main event.
One of the most frequent questions the organisers receive is ‘is there free parking onsite’, so this was number one on their wish list. Sandown delivered here too, with its ample free parking for 1,800 cars with no congestion charges.
Catering
Jockey Club Catering provided external concession units for The London Card Show featuring mouth-watering pizzas, burgers, southern fried chicken and sweet treats!
Testimonial
CEO Harry Reynolds said: “Sandown holds a very special place in my heart because it is down the road from where my grandparents live, and I have great memories of them bringing us here for the racing when we were younger. As soon as The London Card Show grew out of its previous venue, Sandown was the first place I looked.”
“The venue provides a sense of zen. You can escape the bustle of the show floor to soak in the beautiful scenery beyond and feel immediately relaxed. Few venues offer such vast outdoor green space, all within easy reach of London.”
The next instalments of the London Card Show will take place at Sandown Park on the 3rd – 4th August and the 2nd – 3rd of November 2024.
