Showmen's Guild: London Section
The London and the Home Counties Section of the Showmen's Guild covers the historic counties of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Essex, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire as well as the City of London. With Scotland it has the largest geographical boundaries and covers a range of hiring, charter, prescriptive and private business fairs. The great London fairs of the nineteenth century such as St Bartholomew's, Mayfair and Greenwich all declined in the mid-Victorian period; however, great historic fairs in the section still survive with Oxford St Giles Fair in September, Pinner Fair, Barnet and Mitcham Fairs, which despite attempts during the first half of the century to abolish them, still survive. Mitcham Fair is traditionally supposed to have been granted a charter by Elizabeth I in 1598 although no documentary proof has been found. The struggle for the survival of Mitcham was one of the success stories for the early founders of the Guild. Despite attempts to abolish the fair between 1906-11 the Showmen's Guild achieved a compromise with the abolitionists and the fair continued. Another famous fair in this section is Oxford St Giles fair which was probably a Wakes or Holiday Fair. It opens for business on the Monday following the first Sunday in September and is probably one of the best-known street fairs in Britain.
Oxford St. Giles fair, 1930s
The London and Home Counties Section of the Showmen's Guild covers many prominent and historic fairs, with the private business fairs of their members continuing right through the Christmas lights season at Leicester Square London.
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