Ideal Homes Show

Me and my brother were lucky enough to get hold of some complimentary tickets to the Daily Mail Ideal Homes Show at Earls Court today.

The last time we went was back in 1985 or there abouts. It was called the Ideal Homes Exhibition then.

All we remember of the event was a Volvo stand with an amazing plastic ball playground which we decided to live in for the duration. We were about 5 years old in 1985 by the way/ Oh yeah and there was a Volvo hat made out of card board that we got for free. Brilliant!

Volvo wasn't there this year. I'm not entirely sure why a car manufacturer gets to take a space up at a Homes show. This year it was Nissan but without the playground.

The Ideal Homes Exhibition has been running for absolutely ages. The first one was held was back in 1908. Wareham Smith, an advertising manager for the Daily Mail at the time founded the event as a marketing opportunity for the paper. There used to be strong theme of education at the event which has since been completely overshadowed by commercial products and services.
Not much change there this year. I did expect to see more innovation but didn't find anything of great interest apart from a cluster of Carbon neutral show homes. More on that later.

We paid for a guide which came with a goodie bag that amounted to a can of baked beans and a leaflet claiming to make us millions from property investment.

There was a great food area that resembled Spitalfields market exactly and flocked wallpaper absolutely everywhere!










I'll find a couple of independent reviews of the show and post them here in due course. I think I'll see about taking a stand next year.

The list is getting bigger and better and the more chance I have of sharing great customer reviews with others, the better for all of us.