Big plans for The Hoppings - including new rides from Europe, live entertainment and a more developed bar and food court could now be on the cards for the Newcastle fair following the success of its post-Covid return.
The travelling fair has been enjoying 'exceptional weather' during its run, says manager Ryan Crow and, as it prepares to wrap up a hugely successful week this Saturday, he reveals there are already plans for its 2023 return. Ryan is managing director of Crow Events which took over management of The Hoppings for the first time this year and he is delighted to see it enjoy almost unbroken good weather.
The crowds clearly have been eager to take advantage of the sunshine, flocking to the moor to try out aerial rides such as the Mach 5 and Air as well as enduring favourites such as the dodgems, waltzer and the traditional fairground carousel which greets visitors as they arrive at the site's car park end. "The attendance has been fantastic," said Ryan.
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The Hoppings - a Newcastle tradition - made its comeback last Friday following two years of cancellations due to the pandemic, with 2022 marking its 140-year anniversary. As regulars know, the fair's annual summer outing is often dogged with bad weather but, save for a brief spell of rain one day earlier in the week, this year's event has enjoyed an unspoiled dry run and rising temperatures.
Ryan said: "The weather has been exceptional - we've had hardly no rain at all - so we've had excellence attendance and I think that's been due to the fair being off for two years , excellent weather, we've had no football and we've had a massive advertising campaign. Everything's gone right for us this year."
He added: "We've had a very good family attendance, more so than usual - everything's gone really well." Saturday is the final day of action with people making the most of the sunshine from noon until 11pm.
While this is the first year for Crow Events managing The Hoppings, the Crow family - of which Ryan is fifth generation - have been attending the fair as ride operators for more than 100 years. The company is now one of the country's biggest fairground and event operators and last year The Freeman of Newcastle told how they were confident the new management team would improve the event and help secure its long-term future.
Ryan said: "We're really proud to be organising this prestigious event." This year saw them introduce changes to the fair, including an option to pre-book parking, installing on-site ATMs, adding a dedicated food court and - the biggest change of all - introducing the first ever bar, serving the likes of beer, wine and spirits.
Strict guidelines have been operation for the bar - which is not to be confused with another on-site bar more towards the Exhibition Park which is just for the fairground operators and serves them alcohol only after closing time, although members of the public can buy soft drinks. Entrance staff of the public bar check customers are over 18 and alcohol is only available to buy with a substantial meal.
All the new additions have gone down well and Ryan calls the bar's debut "step one", with now plans to build upon it as well as to introduce more additions to The Hoppings. He said of it: "We're going to build on this every year now.
"We'd like to maybe introduce live entertainment in the future, expand on the food court, bring in rides from further afield - possibly Europe - and just build on the event year on year to keep it fresh and keep the public coming back. We really want this to be the number one fairgound in the country."
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