20th-22nd February, 2026
Next year’s Bristol Hi-Fi Show will be held between the 2oth and 22nd of February, in its usual Marriott Bristol City Centre location. The UK’s longest running and biggest audio show (in terms of both exhibitors and visitors) the event is organised by the successful Audio T dealer chain, which helps explain its continued popularity, with heavy store-based promotion to underpin the weekend’s Special Offers and Show Purchase Discounts. Easy access by rail and ample parking also add to the appeal, although not everybody is equally happy…
There are those that point out that the Show Discounts are now so entrenched in the West-Country audio buying public’s psyche that they simply serve to condense several month’s sales into a single weekend, while those whose products aren’t sold through the Audio T stores find themselves at a competitive disadvantage – or at least, outnumbered. Finally, those expecting to see high-end exotica of the sort you used to trip over in Munich are going to be sorely disappointed. The Bristol Show is unmistakably a selling show and, as befits the current state of the UK market, it’s predominantly mid-fi in profile.
So why bother to visit, you might well be wondering? What the show does attract is most of the major UK manufacturers, plenty of UK press and a fascinating cross-section of the UK’s more exotic fringe players. In other words, it’s an unparalleled opportunity to meet and greet old friends or new, speak to the people who actually build the products and possibly chance across something distinctly different and potentially exciting – like the SUPATRAC arm, for example. People who expect to assess products shouldn’t be trying to do it at shows, while what product experience you might garner needs to be banked with a serious pinch of salt. The Bristol Show’s real appeal lies in bringing so much of the UK’s mainstream audio industry together in one place. That it does better than any other event.
www.bristolshow.co.uk
