The Balmoral Show is most certainly one of the biggest events on the annual Northern Ireland calendar and in recent years having moved from the Balmoral Showground’s at the Kings Hall in Belfast to their new site at The Maze the show hasn’t stopped growing.
Agriculture to NI is like sugarcane to Barbados, the country would be on its knees without it and having only attended the show last year for the first time, I must admit I was completely blown away by the sheer size of the event.
However last year I didn’t really get a chance to walk around much of the show due to being on a tight schedule with imagery work, nor did i get chatting to folk at the show so this year I wanted to change that and here I am writing this post now.
Balmoral Show really has something for everyone, in fact it has far too much to even touch on never mind go into depths with, so if you have never been, go and see for yourself and allow a full day to enjoy everything on offer from food to machinery, cars to livestock and absolutely everything in between.
This year we at UsedCarsNI thought it would be a great idea to pop into the show for a brief report and a good catch up with some of our dealers and manufacturers that have been exhibiting at the show over the last three days and this is what they had to say…
Neville Matthews | Alastair Kerr – IMGroup (Isuzu, Great Wall, Subaru)
Neville Matthews | IM Group – “The Balmoral Show is fantastic for us; it is a great place for customers looking at the products in a relaxed way without the pressure of a showroom, they can walk around our stand and look at the products of which we have a huge amount with us at the show”.
Neville continued “We have just introduced a UFU deal to work alongside the full Subaru range where by a member of the Ulster Farmers Union can apply for a voucher and on presentation of this; they will receive 3% off a Subaru at any of our dealer’s province wide.
Alastair Kerr | IMGroup – “We are celebrating 100 years of Isuzu here at the show and as such are delighted to have one of only 100 special edition pick-up trucks on display here, the Isuzu Centurian. This is the first time this vehicle has been seen in Northern Ireland and a total of five will be coming to NI which is fantastic”.
Vanessa Halstead | Andy Salter – Volvo UK
Andy Salter | Volvo UK – “We have all of the current cars within the Volvo range on our stand here at the show including V40, V60, XC60 & XC90 with the latter two proving to be the most popular cars at this event as SUV’s are incredibly popular in Northern Ireland”.
“The XC60 is our bestselling car at present in Europe and we have the brand new XC90 on display which is generating a lot of interest especially with its 2.7 ton towing capability which is almost 0.5 ton more than the previous model”.
“The show itself generates huge interest in the cars and I think it is way busier than even last year, for next year we should have two or three new models on the stand and it is great to display these in such a relaxed atmosphere with plenty of banter. Volvo showrooms can be found on Boucher Road (SMW) and in Antrim (Greers)”.
Dougie Aughey | Adam Kerr – Issac Agnew VW Mallusk
Dougie Aughey | Issac Agnew VW Mallusk – “There has been great interest in all of our vehicles, a lot of which is generated from us having a couple of new models with us here at the show with the SUV market being very strong here. I am very impressed with the great set up here at Balmoral and I can’t get over scale of the show and have been blown away by the sheer amount of people here”.
Terrence Donnelly with some of the sales team | Donnelly Group NI
Terrence Donnelly | Donnelly Group NI – “We have attended the Balmoral show for many a year, it’s great to see the community and talk to the community that you deal with on a regular basis and a lot of our sales people enjoy events like this as we sell a lot of 4×4 vehicles and pick-ups and such likes”.
“For us it is a great opportunity to meet new people as well as to support the community as when farmers are having bad times, of which they are having at present, we want to be there to support them”.
“We are very hospitable people in NI and as such the Balmoral show at this new large site is great for everyone to socialise as much as it great to do business, we have supported the show for a long time and are glad to be part of it”.
Words & Photos: Graham Curry
