Mercator's first headache stems from the fact that, following the Sandown Park trade shows, no Marine Trade Show has ever succeeded in October.

'So why should it succeed again now?' asked Mercator MD, Andrew Webster, pointing out the February timing of BBEx in Bournemouth was heavily influenced by the knowledge that an October show was highly unlikely to work.

The second option facing Mercator is to amalgamate BBEx into its already hugely successful Seawork exhibition that runs in June in the ABP Port of Southampton.

Webster feels strongly that including leisure marine into Seawork will dilute the nature of the commercial show. Secondly, while the crossover in products gets ever closer - and the option of having an on-water event could add another attraction to BBEx - June is at the height of the leisure marine industry's busy summer period.

'If the industrywon't come to BBEx in October or February,' said Webster, 'it's highly unlikely they will want to leave their offices and shops in June.'

He added his thanks to all for coming to the meeting and offering their thoughts. 'We have some hard thinking to do and I want to get back to everyone by the end of this month with a proposal, although we have no idea what that's likely to be right now.'

The meeting was attended by some of the industry's heavy hitters, with a good showing from Navimo and Bainbridge, plus C-Quip and SailForce and representatives from the British Marine Federation (BMF) and the Marine Trades Association (MTA). The talk was lively and didn't pull any punches.

The minutes of the meeting will be made available at the end of this week - they will be sent to all who attended the meeting. Anyone else who would like a set of minutes should request them by emailing freeve@mercatormedia.com