The London Comic Mart. . . .What happened?

[AFCMan]

  Hello one and all.
  Having been a semi-regular patron of the London Comic Mart for many years, stretching right back to when the Comic Mart and Card Mart were two separate entities (The aforementioned Card Mart being held in the Camden Centre in the early 2000's) I have often wondered just WHY the London Comic Mart is so under-advertised.
It always seems to have been spoken of in hushed whispers, and people only heard about it by word of mouth from the friend of a friend who has a friend who discovered it by accident once. It always comes across as being one of London's best worst kept secrets 
I was originally told about it from a friend who owns a Comic shop in my home town of Aylesbury, otherwise I would never have known it existed.

  On the occasions I do get to attend there are usually a healthy amount of people around, either those that know about the show and are regulars, or those handful of tourists that manage to find their way there.
On my most recent visits however, I have noticed a drop-off in the amount of vendors, even some empty tables when I came up to the April show, something I'd never seen before.

  I also seem to remember it being bigger, with all the Galleon Suites in the Royal National Hotel being utilized.
Are less vendors choosing not to come to sell here anymore?

  I certainly remember, after the sad demise of the Camden Centre Card Mart, and when the first Yu-Gi-Oh! Card game set was released here in 2002, there were a wide range of Trading Card, Sports and Non-Sports Card sellers that moved across to the Comic Mart, attracting a lot of Card Game players every month.
I came to the April and May shows this year, and there was just the ONE regular vendor left selling Collectible and Trading Cards - and they weren't even in attendance at the April show.

  I know Showmasters and the good folks responsible for setting up the London Comic Mart aren't responsible for the amount and type of sellers that choose to pitch up every month, but my argument is that I feel this has always been mainly down to the virtually non-existent advertising around it.
Is there a reason why the advertising is so poor for the London Comic Mart and why it isn't pushed more?

  For me, it's a monthly event in London that could, and possibly should, be a lot bigger and better than it currently is.
It definitely used to be bigger and more popular than it is now.
  In the 21 or so years that I have been attending, I have noticed a huge drop in both sellers and customers, which is a big shame as the London Comic Mart always has been a real 'hidden gem' and always a pleasure to visit.

  It feels like it is being left by the wayside, in favour of much bigger but less frequent and outside-of-London events, such as Collectormania and Film Fair, and that is a real shame.

[AFCMan]

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