05/09/2026
Hello everyone 👋
I haven’t done a post like this for a while, so I hope everyone’s keeping alright.
I don’t know how we’ve suddenly ended up in September 🍂 One minute it’s hot, the next it’s cold, and you can definitely feel winter creeping in.
I always get a funny feeling this time of year, when we’re pulling into the same towns and then pulling out again. I never quite know how I feel about it all. As I’ve got older, I think it does feel more stressful and brings more anxiety, but we’re showmen, and that’s what we do 🎠
We know everyone has bills to pay. So do we. Times are hard for everyone.
Sometimes when people come to the fair and say things like, “Get ready to be robbed, Dick Turpin Wore A Mask , or I can’t believe the prices,
Or they ask how much something is, you tell them, and they say, “Oh, I didn’t want to buy the whole stall,” or “I didn’t want to buy the whole ride.”
And you do feel like saying, “Excuse me? I don’t think you’d be able to.” 😂
Because the truth is, a lot of people have no idea how much rides and stalls cost to buy, run, transport, insure, repair and maintain. They don’t see the diesel, the insurance, the rent, the wages, the stock, the transport, the testing, the maintenance, the repairs, the setting up, the pulling down, the late nights and the early mornings.
But they are the public, and we are professionals, so of course we don’t say anything mean back, even if we feel like it sometimes. We smile, we rise above it, and we carry on — because that’s what showmen do.
The truth is, we have not put our prices up for the last four or five years. They are still the same, even though our overheads keep going up.
It does feel like fairs get judged differently sometimes. People will queue round the block for coffee shops, takeaways, ice creams and McDonald’s ☕️🍔🍦 but when it comes to the fair, some forget how much work, travel and cost goes into bringing it to your town.
I don’t take it personally, but it does get you down now and again.
The world feels harder than it used to. Everything’s expensive, everyone’s stressed, and technology has made it so easy for young ones to stay indoors glued to a screen 📱
That’s why we still believe places like the fair matter. It gets families out, brings people together, and gives children memories that aren’t just on a phone ✨
So thank you to everyone who follows us, supports us, shares our posts, visits us, or even just comes for a walk around and enjoys the lights and atmosphere 🎡
It means more than you know.
Larby’s Leisure
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