From starting as a small trade event to completely filling Telford International Centre’s 9,840m² halls, the Pet and Aquatics Trade Show (PATS) has firmly established itself as the leading event for professionals across the UK’s pet and aquatics industry. Here’s how the exhibition outgrew the longstanding venue it had successfully partnered with for well over a decade. 

 

Creating a long-lasting relationship

Whether specialising in dog food and accessories or water tanks suitable for a school of fish, the Pet and Aquatics Trade Show gathers businesses big and small from across the world to showcase their brands to the UK’s key retailers and decision makers.

With the event organisers, Impact Exhibitions & Events Ltd, already hosting another of their trade shows, AQUA - the water gardening and aquatics trade event - at Telford International Centre, moving PATS to the venue in 2015 was a natural one. When PATS launched its own dedicated Aquatics Zone in 2024, the organisers aimed to build the biggest trade pets show in the country to support the ever-growing industry.

Speaking on the early partnership with Telford International Centre, Gordon Thomas, Event Director at event organisers Impact Exhibitions & Events Ltd, said: “Since the very beginning of our time at Telford International Centre, the venue team always understood each of our events and worked incredibly hard to ensure that all our needs were met.

“From working closely with their operations team to ensure everything was in place ready for the arrival of our exhibitors, to speaking to their security team to guarantee everyone’s safety, our team was always able to count on Telford to ensure we created an unforgettable experience.”

 

Battling difficult challenges

Like any major annual event set to take place between 2020 and 2022, the pandemic posed a new set of challenges to the PATS organisers – challenges that would prove an immediate threat to any aspirations of continued growth.

Gordon Thomas continued: “The dedication and can-do attitude of the team at Telford International Centre had always been exceptional but stood out incredibly in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. During our 2021 event, there was a lot of uncertainty around the different requirements our exhibitors and visitors would have to follow to ensure everyone’s safety. Whether it was masks, vaccination cards or lateral flow tests, everyone had to be checked to prevent the spread.

“Thanks to Telford International Centre’s close ties with the local council, they knew exactly what rules and regulations we had to follow and conducted a well-managed checking process to ensure we all remained safe while enjoying the event. This was incredibly important to us and the team truly shone that year in hosting spectacular events, whatever the challenge.”

 

Supporting a growing sector

With many people forced to stay at home during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, 3.2 million households in the UK acquired a pet to keep them company. As individuals had more time to take on the responsibility, the pet industry soon flourished, supporting the vast number of new owners. Unsurprisingly, PATS followed suit, which in turn challenged its events team and their partners at Telford International Centre to accommodate a surge in additional visitors and exhibitors.

Gordon added: “With supermarkets and businesses feeling the strain as more and more people took in a new pet, the 2021 show was incredibly important to us as a way of supporting the industry. That year we had 186 exhibitors and 2,062 visitors attending the show, which really showed us how much we could grow.”

In the following years, PATS continued to expand. In 2023, 2,342 visitors attended the event, and this number grew by over 50% to 3,541 a year later. Yet despite such rapid growth, the host venue’s commitment to outstanding service remained as consistent as ever.

“As the years went by, the Centre’s sales, operations and food and beverage teams all played their part in filling the hall spaces by creating a welcoming atmosphere that brought us back year on year,” said Gordon.

 

The last hurrah

For the 2024 show, the team elected to make a few changes to enhance the overall experience for every visitor. As well as increasing its length to make it a three-day event, a new exhibitors’ lounge was created so that representatives from the plethora of different businesses attending had a dedicated space they could use to take a break.

Evening entertainment was taken to new heights as one of the industry’s trade associations hosted a gala dinner and awards show to celebrate the achievements made within the sector. Hosted in the Ironbridge Suite, 300 attendees were treated to an exclusive three-course menu created by the Centre’s catering team.

After filling all three of the centre’s halls, plus taking additional space in the Ludlow Suite and areas on the venue foyer, the PATS organisers decided it was time to move to a larger venue so that the show could continue in its positive trajectory.

Gordon concluded: “Moving on from Telford International Centre was an incredibly difficult choice to make, as we have developed such a fondness for the team at Telford, and the service we received over the years was exemplary, but we couldn’t let the industry down by hindering the event’s progress. With 341 exhibitors and over 3,500 visitors attending our 2024 show, we completely filled the space available as well as every hotel in the area, so we knew it was time to explore other venues.

“For our 2025 show, we’re hoping to grow a further 20% and attract an even wider selection of industry professionals and businesses, so that retailers can truly see the breadth of brands and products they can take to their valued customer bases. There are so many unique businesses catering for our four-legged – or finned – friends that deserve their time to shine on the exhibition floor.

“We would love to come back to Telford International Centre one day with another industry event as the venue is excellent and our exhibitors and visitors alike love the space. It may be goodbye, but only for now, and we hope other like-minded professional organisations can pick up the baton and grow their own industry event with the help of the team at Telford International Centre.”

Alison Griffin, Managing Director at Telford International Centre concluded saying: “We see ourselves as fortunate to enjoy a long-term working relationship with the Impact Exhibition & Events team resulting in us understanding the event objectives and working as one collective team. Organiser and venue worked hand-in-hand to ensure many exceptional years of this exhibition at Telford International Centre”.

“We aim to offer trade show organisers our help to achieve exhibition growth. Midlands based with connected halls spanning 3,000sqm growth in each stage to a maximum of 10,000sqm, or more, if organisers utilise the suite space too, this is the perfect fit for UK plc industry sectors in business growth and we are very much a self-contained venue home for exhibitors and visitors alike; really offering the perfect trading floor for sales, networking and business relationship building.”

To launch, incubate and grow your trade exhibition, speak to our dedicated team here.