Hull Fair, held annually in early October in Kingston upon Hull, is the largest traveling funfair in the UK and Europe, featuring over 250-300 rides and attractions spanning 16 acres, operating for over 700 years. Similar large-scale annual events, often called funfairs, carnivals, or wakes, include the Nottingham Goose Fair.
Hull Fair is Europe's largest and oldest travelling fair, dating back to the 13th century. Based at Walton Street car park in west Hull, the fair takes place every year in early October. Images from: https://www.carnegiehull.co.uk/the- anlaby-road/walton-street.
With more than 350 rides and attractions and thrills aplenty for all ages, Goose Fair is one of the largest travelling funfairs in Europe and has been staged annually in Nottingham since at least 1284.
NOTTINGHAM GOOSE FAIR 2025 BRITAIN'S GREATEST FAIR! Nottingham Goose Fair features over 70 large rides, 100's of attractions and street food stalls across a 20 acre site.
RoB DeLorean-Chamb hull fair is the biggest and bigger than goose by some 10 rides, and gets 300.000 more attendance, also I asked a showman at Hull fair last year if Nottingham goose was bigger than Hull fair he said no I asked him if Hoppings was he said no, he told me Hull fair was slightly bigger than goose and ...
Nottingham's Goose Fair is still going strong, over 700 years later. The event started in the 13th century and is the referred to as the world's oldest travelling fair. To this day, thousands are eager to attend year on year.
Topping this 2023 “Top 30 State Fairs” list is the Minnesota State Fair, followed by the Tulsa State Fair, State Fair of Texas, Iowa State Fair, and Wisconsin State Fair.
Michaelmas and Runaway fairs. The Michaelmas and Runaway fairs take place each year in October and the Michaelmas fair is reputed to be the longest street fair in Europe.
Hull Fair is Europe's largest travelling funfair, which goes to Kingston upon Hull, England for one week from 5 pm on Friday to 11 pm of the Saturday eight days later, encompassing 11 October each year. The fair is open every day between these days except Sunday.
More than 60 World's Fairs have taken place to date, the most recent ones in Aichi/Japan 2005, Zaragoza/Spain 2008, Shanghai/PRC 2010, Yeosu/South Korea 2012, Milan/Italy 2015, Astana/Kazakhstan 2017 and Dubai 2020.
Almost half a million visitors flock to Nottingham's Goose Fair annually. These days it is mostly famous for its fairground rides and games, boasting over five hundred attractions, some for thrill seekers and many that appeal to the whole family.
Kingston upon Hull City Council (from hereinafter called 'the Council') as the owner of the land, on which Hull Fair (from hereinafter 'the Fair”) is held, is responsible for the provision of a safe and healthy environment at the Fair.
Hull City Football Club faces significant financial challenges, with reports of substantial losses (over £40m in 2024/25), a high wage bill, and recent transfer embargoes due to overdue payments, though owner Acun Ilicali converted nearly £15m in loans to equity in late 2025 to improve the balance sheet, while also noting the club owes money to him personally rather than third parties. The club's debt includes £60m owed to the owner's company, Acun Medya, and the club doesn't own its MKM Stadium, which is owned by the city council.
Although 7 million guests toured the fair, it was not enough to recoup the $350 million spent to host the event. Paychecks started bouncing, and it was only through government intervention that the gates remained open through the scheduled run. The fair drew 30,000 fewer people in the first month than was predicted.
