Grosvenor House Antique and Art Fair to Masterpiece?

The Antiques and Trade Gazette is reporting that Masterpiece is in the final stages of finding a venue for a potential replacement of the now closed Grosvenor House Antique and Art fair. The ATG piece is short, so I will take the liberty to just reprint the article. Given the news of such a crowded and competitive field to replace Grosvenor, it is certainly good news for the Antique market.

The organizers of Masterpiece, one of the hopefuls in the race to fill the gap left by the Grosvenor House fair, hope to have their venue settled by the end of the year.

In a statement released to ATG at the end of last week, they said they had “appointed experienced planning advisers ahead of submitting an application to hold the inaugural event at Chelsea Barracks from June 24-29, 2010”.

They explained that they were working with the Royal Hospital Chelsea, neighbors to the Barracks, “to deliver the project”.

“It is anticipated that an application will be finalised and put forward to Westminster City Council by the end of this month following consultation with the local community. A decision is expected to follow approximately eight weeks later, as per standard planning guidelines.”

Meanwhile, French organizers Patrick Perrin and Stéphane Custot have confirmed they are joining the increasingly crowded June fairs scene with the launch next year of the Berkeley Square Art & Antique Fair.

It will be held from June 24 to 27 in a marquee in Mayfair, but details have yet to be announced. There was talk of planning permission issues with this event too, but M. Perrin has assured ATG the venue is definitely secured.