Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Four Day Plan for Loughborough Fair

There has been a suggestion made that the nationally-famous Loughborough Fair should in future last four days instead of three.

Loughborough Fair is a very unusual event. Whereas most fairs in old market towns take place either in a public park or in a field on the outskirts of town, this one fills up the Market Place and several surrounding streets.

The fair, containing the usual rides and fast food stalls, dates back several hundred years, and is opened on a Thursday in November by the Mayor reading a proclamation from the balcony of the Town Hall. It then continues until Saturday night.

When I was Manager of the Town Hall in the 1970s, I thought Loughborough Fair was brilliant, and of course I still do.

One ride seemed as if was going to deposit people through the window and onto my desk! I had to ask people on the telephone to speak up because “There’s a fair outside my window”.

The Showmen’s Guild has now asked for the fair to be extended, so that it starts on the Wednesday. The rationale for this is that all the rides are in place on Wednesday, anyway.