Harrogate Christmas & Gift show: Hall A, Stand A4
From a carefully curated bespoke show experience at Harrogate to what the team describe as their most important week of the year, retail events are big business for Lesser & Pavey. Sarah Welsh spoke to Director Jonny Greves…
Before we chat about Christmas & Gift show, can you take a look back at how 2025 fared for Lesser & Pavey?
I honestly can’t quite believe how quickly last year went by. It’s no big secret to say that trading conditions have been tough, but the retail industry continues to show strength and resilience. In times like this we strive harder to develop as much new as possible, with a view to offering exceptional value to our customers.
We had some really strong ranges in 2025. Our home fragrancing went from strength to strength and we have big plans to continue this growth this coming year. Our ‘Tuscany’ bowls and homewares were a huge hit last year, particularly with garden centres, and licensed ranges Bug Art and Madelaine from Hearts Designs also continued to grow. And of course we can’t forget Highland Cows! What a hit they were in 2025.
In terms of the Harrogate show, how important is it L&P alongside your busy showroom set-up?
Christmas & Gift in Harrogate is an absolute necessity for us. We do see customers in our showroom to preview Christmas 2026 as early as December, but the Harrogate show is the big launch where we hope to see all of our main Christmas customers. They like to get their buying done early so if you’re not there you could miss out.
It’s a small show for us, compared to Spring Fair where we have our full range of 5,000 products, but the importance is huge. It’s also run really well by the organisers and it’s lovely to be in elegant Harrogate where exhibitors and buyers alike enjoy doing business.
How many ranges will you take to the show?
Over twenty. Christmas 2026 will be our biggest festive range ever. We feel we have built on to our most popular ranges of 2025, as well as adding lots of brand new collections. We’re excited to be launching brand new tableware ranges that we are so well known for, from our favourite long standing licensing partners, as well as some really nice new ones.
In addition, our Christmas food gift had another great year in 2025 so we’ve grown that nicely for 2026, with some new fun characters added. We also have brand new Christmas themed launches within our home fragrancing, LEDs, soft toys, ornaments, doorstops, and of course Highland Cows.
Last year you took 10 times as many items to the NEC for Spring Fair than you took to Harrogate. How do you tailor your approach for each show?
As mentioned, our Christmas range will be the biggest ever in 2026, but it is still only part of what we offer. We take our full product range to Birmingham. It’s a fairly major operation, but is still in our eyes the most important week of the year. We love show time! It’s just a great opportunity to catch up with customers, meet new ones and show off what we’ve been working on. For 2026 our range at Spring Fair will be around 5,000 items, and of that I would say close to half are brand new.
Tell us about the product ranges you’ll be taking to Harrogate…
We have several brand new, full complement ranges in our licenced designs, including Santa, Robins, Snowmen and Highland Cows. We also have some exciting new designs from our in-house art department, including Tinsel Town, which comprises mugs, coasters, placemats, lap trays, fragrance, decorations and much more.
Lesser & Pavey is really well known for collaboration with artists. Can you tell us about any exciting additions to your long-standing partnerships with Jennifer Rose and Macneil Studios?
Both those partnership designs are very well recognised on our products and loved by our customers. Each year we enjoy working closely with them to see how we can innovate and improve the designs for our customers.
The MacNeil Studio personifies Christmas for me, such warm, traditional designs. We have a brand new Jolly old Santa, standing by his sleigh full to the brim with presents. Also a bright colourful Robin family in a frosty woodland setting and a Snowman family outside a beautifully decorated Christmas house.
Jennifer Rose has a more contemporary take on Christmas. This year we have another beautiful water colour painted Robin family, surrounded by festive flowers and foliage. And also we have Highland Cows, again in Jennifer’s signature water colours, painted against a soft woodlands background.
What about your other art licensing partnerships?
Madelaine by Hearts Design has a new take on a Christmassy Hellebore Flower, on striking red, green, and cream backgrounds. All embellished with the diamanté bow and gold foiling.
This range will have fine china mugs and premium boutique hand poured candles and reed diffusers in the following fragrances – Red Winter Berries, White Snowdrop, Pine & Eucalyptus
Paper Shed has Down on the Farm at Christmas with eight new designs including British Wildlife, Dogs, Dachshund, Cats, a Highland Cow and Santa on a snowy farm background. This range will have mugs, coasters, trays, lap trays, candles and diffusers.
Finola Stack is back with Festive Friends, her signature fun cartoons of reindeer, snowman, elves helping Santa, and decorating the tree. All are available on a range of children’s melamine plates, bowls, trays, drinks bottles and also a range of wooden plaques and decorations.
And back once again, the ever-popular Bug Art in favourite designs our customers love – Santa, Rudolph, Kitten, Mutton, Snowman and Robin, and all available on mugs, coasters, trays, laptrays, candles and diffusers.
Finally, how did you spend last Christmas, before the madness of show season?
I remember looking at the diary with my wife Rosie, thinking it was going to be a busy one! We hosted Christmas Eve at our house. Last year our twins were only a few months old but this time they were running around.
Then we spent Christmas and Boxing Day with our families. It’s all about quality time and making the most of it together.
For more information visit: www.leonardo.co.uk
