Beautiful northern spa town Harrogate is one of the UK’s most coveted places to visit, and as it happens the map for its Christmas & Gift show is just as enticing as the historic surrounds. Sarah Welsh caught up with organiser Simon Anslow…
From its lush gardens to the stunning Victorian architecture, the wellness heritage of this charming town to the fact it plays host to some of the most critical retail events in the British trade calendar, Harrogate is part and parcel of what people love about the Christmas & Gift show.
Located right in the heart of Harrogate at its renowned convention centre, with incredible restaurants and bars on the doorstep that make the show’s socialising and networking aspect part of its unique appeal, C&G first opened its doors back in 1950.
The roots of Christmas & Gift lie in festive decorations, lighting and home gifts, but in recent years this has expanded to include all seasonal celebrations, the wider gift category and an expansive home and interiors offering. As a show it has strong crossover appeal, attracting buyers from across the UK and all areas of retail – from high street names to independents, garden centres to cathedrals and visitor attractions.
There are more than 110 exhibitors confirmed for the 2026 show, including many new brands, such as Matchstick Monkey, Love Coco and NJ Products.
Well-known returning names include Premier, Kaemingk, Joe Davies, Lotus Imports, Straits Trading and Floralsilk, and the hall layout is looking better than ever for the 76th edition of the show.
“2025 was a landmark year for us, and celebrating the show’s 75th anniversary was a real testament to its longevity and continued relevance. Few trade shows can match not only the heritage of Harrogate Christmas & Gift, but also its sustained year-on-year growth”
Hall G takes centre stage with Kaemingk enjoying an even larger show footprint this year, whilst Smart Garden Products is one of the main attractions in Hall Q. Premier Decorations will be sitting pretty in Hall H, with Floralsilk in Hall B and LeisureGrow in Hall A. Whilst Festive will be shining in Hall C and Gisela Graham drawing visitors to Hall M.
And in addition to catching up with exhibitors, visitors will also be offered a critical snapshot of trends for the year ahead. Show organiser Simon Anslow, who has been carefully curating Christmas & Gift for many years, let us in on what to look forward to at this year’s event…
2025 was a stellar year for Christmas & Gift, with the 75th anniversary edition of the show – how are you planning to top it for 2026?
Absolutely—2025 was a landmark year for us, and celebrating the show’s 75th anniversary was a real testament to its longevity and continued relevance. Few trade shows can match not only the heritage of Harrogate Christmas & Gift, but also its sustained year-on-year growth. Every year we find ourselves thinking, ‘How can we get more visitors to recognise that the Harrogate Christmas and Gift Fair is the place to do your Christmas Buying?’
For 2026, momentum is already incredibly strong. Exhibitor space is almost fully booked, with over 110 companies confirmed. While that number may not sound enormous at first glance, many of these stands are substantial in size—so much so that they nearly fill all nine halls of the Harrogate Convention Centre. It’s shaping up to be another exceptional year, with even more to see, experience, and get excited about.
2026 will mark your 16th year at the helm. How have you seen things change in the festive retail sector over that time?
Over the years we have been organising the show the festive retail sector has evolved dramatically. When we started organising the show we were using six halls and only really filling three of them. The others were half full and we were selling 8,000 sq. metres – but now we are selling over 14,000 sq. metres.
Buyers used to visit Harrogate then advise exhibitors that they would place orders at Spring Fair. Spring Fair also had a big Christmas section plus Christmas in other halls, but overtime and luckily for us, as an exhibition the buying season for Christmas started to get earlier. Exhibitors now advise that buyers come to Harrogate to do all their Christmas buying. Over time current exhibiters have grown their ranges and have asked for bigger stands.
What changes have you seen in terms of show stands and visual merchandising?
Many of our exhibitors want more space, but also want to stay in the same position, as competition as grown. We’ve seen Smart Garden Products increase their show stand in Hall Q to 750 sq. metres, whilst APAC have grown to 540 sq. metres in the same hall.
Harrogate Convention Centre built two new halls in 2011 and Premier Decorations moved to the new hall H in 2012. Gisela Graham has increased its show stand, and stayed in the same location. Heaven Sends and Shatchi both started in Hall Q, but now have bigger stands in Hall C. Festive Productions doubled its stand size and moved into Hall C, and last year Kaemingk moved to Hall G. That’s just to name a few! For the 2026 show we have had more than 40 enquiries for space from new companies.
Social media has played a huge part in this transformation. Consumers are more inspired than ever by what they see online and are keen to recreate ‘Instagram-worthy’ Christmas moments in their own homes. This visual culture has also raised the bar for retailers, who are now buying earlier and investing more in impactful visual merchandising, from show-stopping displays to imaginative stand designs. Add in the impact of brands show-casing product ranges for other seasonal celebrations and all this has contributed to the increasing scale and influence of Christmas & Gift.
Last year you were expecting more buyers from London and the south to make the trip to Harrogate. Did this come to fruition?
Yes — our expectations were fully met, and even exceeded. The 2025 show saw a fantastic turnout from the south of the country and the London region, the South East plus buyers travelling from as far afield as Cornwall.
Interestingly we struggle to get buyers from the West Midlands, the turnout from Wales is low too and our exhibitors mention that there aren’t as many Irish buyers as there used to be. Harrogate remains the UK’s largest Christmas-specific trade show though, and we’d like to thank all buyers for attending – wherever they hail from.
Which exhibitors are you most excited about seeing at the show?
That’s always a difficult question, because we truly value all our exhibitors from those who have booked tiny show stands to those who have 1600 sq. metres and I hope to speak to them all. The show thrives on its diversity—from exciting new companies with smaller stands showcasing unique, handcrafted, or bespoke products, through to our largest exhibitors who anchor the event with core Christmas ranges, new colourways, and ever-improving technology.
Every exhibitor brings something important to the overall experience, and it’s this breadth and richness that attracts such a wide range of buyers—not only from across the UK, but from Europe and around the world.
