The Event

Autumn Fair 2026 Birmingham · Sep 6-9

Autumn Fair co-locates with Glee, the garden, outdoor and floral show, for the first time in 2026, combining into a single event at NEC Birmingham with 1,200+ exhibitors and 20,000+ buyers. The International Exhibitor Programme is actively recruiting US brands with visa letter support and export logistics guidance.

This co-location is the biggest structural change to the event in years, and the active US recruitment push makes it a strong opportunity for home and garden brands eyeing UK expansion. Brands entering new markets are exactly the audience this show is built to attract, particularly once compliant supply and fulfillment sit behind the visa and export support Autumn Fair itself offers.

View event site → What this means for EU expansion

The Room

Who's expected at Autumn Fair 2026

Autumn Fair brings together home and gift brands with UK retail buyers, and the new co-location with Glee adds garden, outdoor and floral exhibitors and buyers into the same halls. The International Exhibitor Programme is specifically built for brands new to the UK, with visa letter support and export logistics guidance aimed at recruiting more US exhibitors.

This is one of the stronger opportunities on the calendar for US home, gift and garden brands planning UK entry: the show is actively recruiting exactly the kind of brand that will need tax, compliance and 3PL support once they've secured a stand. The organizer doing the recruiting work is a real head start.

Home and gift brands Garden and outdoor brands (Glee) Floral suppliers UK retail buyers First-time US exhibitors

For a growing brand seeking the next step up, is Autumn Fair 2026 a good fit?

Organizer-led US recruitment means many exhibitors here are new to UK compliance and fulfillment, which is exactly the point where getting the operational side sorted matters most.

Co-location with Glee

For the first time, Autumn Fair and Glee run together, expanding the combined audience from 800+ exhibitors and 13,000+ buyers previously to 1,200+ and 20,000+.

International Exhibitor Programme

Actively recruiting US brands with visa letter support and export logistics guidance, a direct fit for first-time UK exhibitors.

Buyer base

20,000+ buyers across home, gift, garden and floral categories, one of the larger combined UK retail buyer audiences of the autumn calendar.

Programme

What's on at Autumn Fair 2026

Three tracks anchor the confirmed 2026 agenda, spanning the newly combined Autumn Fair and Glee show floor.

01 Home & Gift

The core Autumn Fair categories: home decor, gift and general retail products, aimed squarely at UK independent and multiple retail buyers.

Home decor sourcing trends
Gift category buying

02 Garden, Outdoor & Floral (Glee)

Glee's co-located categories bring garden products, outdoor living and floral suppliers into the same event for the first time in 2026.

Garden and outdoor living trends
Floral supply sourcing

03 International Exhibitor Programme

Dedicated support for first-time international exhibitors, especially US brands, covering visa letters and export logistics guidance, one of the more proactive recruitment programs on the UK trade show calendar.

Visa letter support sessions
Export logistics guidance

Live Intelligence

What's being said about Autumn Fair 2026

Live coverage from Autumn Fair 2026, now open at NEC Birmingham.

Glee co-location confirmed

EVENT PREVIEW · JUL 2026

Organizers confirmed Autumn Fair will co-locate with Glee for the first time in 2026, expanding the combined show from 800+ exhibitors and 13,000+ buyers to 1,200+ and 20,000+. This is the biggest structural change to the event in years.

US recruitment push continues

EVENT PREVIEW · JUL 2026

The International Exhibitor Programme's visa letter and logistics support signals organizers are actively courting US brands as first-time UK exhibitors.

Buyer density rises with co-location

EVENT PREVIEW · JUL 2026

Combining two established shows under one roof gives exhibiting brands access to a broader buyer base in a single visit, rather than choosing between two separate events.

Visa support handles entry, not compliance

EVENT PREVIEW · JUL 2026

The International Exhibitor Programme covers getting a US brand onto the show floor. It doesn't cover VAT registration, product compliance or fulfillment, the steps that turn a stand into ongoing UK sales.

Opening-day figures confirm a serious-buyer audience

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · SEP 2026

Organizers confirmed the combined Autumn Fair and Glee audience skews toward genuine buying power: 80% of attendees have purchasing authority and 70% operate physical stores, spanning department stores, multiples, independents and garden centres. More than 25% of exhibiting brands are new to the show and over 30% exhibit exclusively at Autumn Fair, signalling strong product discovery for buyers and real first-mover access for new exhibitors.

Counter Talks program confirmed, built around retail's real pressure points

HOME & GIFT ASSOCIATION · AUG 2026

Organizers confirmed the full Counter Talks program: four days of sessions on AI, social commerce, retail crime, visual merchandising, consumer trends and digital growth, shaped by findings from the Voices of Retail 2026 report. The retail-crime and digital-growth tracks in particular signal what's actually keeping independent retailers up at night this year, useful context for how to pitch a compliant UK launch.

The bigger picture

The UK is rolling out the welcome mat

An organizer actively offering visa letters and export logistics guidance is a strong signal that the UK wants more US brands in its home and gift sector. That's a real opening, but exhibiting is only the first step. Getting product onto UK shelves compliantly and efficiently still takes VAT registration, a Responsible Person and, for bulky home goods, local fulfillment.

Treat the visa letter and export guidance as the organizer solving the easy problem, showing up, while leaving the harder problem, selling compliantly and profitably once you're there, for a partner like Expandly. That gap is exactly where this event's US-recruitment push becomes a real opportunity for exhibitors who plan ahead.

UK VAT registration triggers at a £90,000 turnover threshold, with an 8-14 week typical lead time.
Home and garden products are generally straightforward on compliance, but electrical and chemical-containing items add extra rules.
The UK has its own packaging EPR threshold, with no registration required below £1M turnover and 25 tonnes/year of packaging.
Bulky home and garden goods make local UK fulfillment essential, since shipping them individually from the US rarely works on cost.
Brands recruited via the International Exhibitor Programme are, almost by definition, new to UK trade, exactly the brands that benefit most from getting compliance sorted early.

The International Exhibitor Programme lowers the barrier to showing up. The barrier to actually selling compliantly still needs its own plan.

Combined buyers

Autumn Fair's first-ever co-location with Glee expands the combined show to more than 20,000 buyers across home, gift, garden and floral categories in a single visit.

20,000+buyers

UK VAT threshold

UK VAT registration is triggered once a seller's turnover passes £90,000, with registration typically taking 8-14 weeks, so it needs planning well before a UK launch.

£90,000turnover

Combined exhibitors

The new co-location with Glee grows Autumn Fair's combined exhibitor base to more than 1,200, up from 800+ in prior standalone years, reflecting the show's expanded scale.

1,200+exhibitors

Good to Know

Questions about Autumn Fair 2026

What's changing at Autumn Fair 2026?

For the first time, Autumn Fair co-locates with Glee, the garden, outdoor and floral show, materially expanding the combined audience from the previous standalone figure of 800+ exhibitors and 13,000+ buyers to 1,200+ combined exhibitors and 20,000+ buyers.

Does Autumn Fair 2026 support US exhibitors specifically?

Yes. The International Exhibitor Programme is actively recruiting US brands, offering visa letter support and export logistics guidance for brands new to exhibiting in the UK.

What categories does Autumn Fair 2026 cover?

Home, gift and general retail categories from the core Autumn Fair show, now combined with Glee's garden, outdoor and floral focus under one co-located event.

Does the visa letter program also cover UK compliance?

No. It helps US brands get onto the show floor, but VAT registration, product compliance and fulfillment are separate steps not covered by the exhibitor program itself.

Is the UK a good first market for US brands entering Europe?

The UK is the usual first market for US brands entering Europe: shared language, mature ecommerce infrastructure, Amazon UK as an established marketplace, and rules that are detailed but well documented. Since Brexit it is a separate customs and VAT regime from the EU.

What applies to home and garden products in the EU?

Home and garden ranges are usually straightforward on compliance, but watch the exceptions: electrical items add CE marking and electrical waste rules, and anything with chemicals, such as treatments or paints, has its own requirements. Bulky items also make local fulfillment especially important, since shipping them from the US is rarely viable on cost.

Make Your Move

Heading to Birmingham this September?

Getting a visa letter is the easy part. Getting compliant and stocked in the UK is the part worth planning early.

Expandly's Global Expansion Pathway (GEP™) handles UK VAT registration, Responsible Person requirements and fulfillment, so exhibiting at Autumn Fair turns into real UK sales rather than a one-off trip. If the International Exhibitor Programme has you weighing the UK, let's talk about what a compliant launch looks like.