Swap meets have come under threat in recent years, or disappeared completely in the mists of time. With rare parts easily found via the internet, common parts delivered to your door, the reason for swap meets has fallen dramatically. So it’s kind of strange that Slough Swapmeet is going from strength to strength and has moved to a bigger venue with more parking.

Slough swapmeet has been going for years, but then in 2014 the organisers decided that they were going to call it a day. Everyone thought what a shame it was that we had lost this event, it's obviously a case of not knowing what you have until it's gone. New organisers stepped in and took it over, they got loads of support via social media and 'relaunched' slough swapmeet and it was a big success.

So Slough swapmeet is now about 12 miles from Slough, in a similar sports hall in Bracknell. Presumably the organisers were worried that Bracknell swapmeet would be seen as a new event and nobody would turn up, so they continued with the name Slough swapmeet to continue the momentum. Or maybe they're hedging their bets and if it didn't work out they could move back to Slough without anyone noticing?

The swapmeet itself is great, plenty of rusty old original parts to be found and plenty of brand new parts available too. VW Shows in general seem to be plagued with endless tradestands selling non-VW tat such as tie-dyed dream catchers and plastic trolls for your T5 dashboard. But the Slough swapmeet was just full of good stands and quite a few bargains were found. But it's also a great social event and a good chance to meet up with VW friends and have a good chat probably for the last time this year. And there's also the car park, with VW's filling the majority of spaces and trophies given out to some of the special cars, all in all - it's a great event thats well worth supporting. 

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@tissierpatrice won ‘king of the car park’ with his beautiful split beetle at today’s Bracknell Swapmeet - #sloughswapmeet #notinslough #bracknellswapmeet #vintageVW #splitbeetle #pre67vw

A post shared by Rob Amos (@pre67vw) on Nov 4, 2018 at 9:33am PST

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Patina alive and well at Bracknell Swapmeet . #sloughswapmeet #vintageVW #vwbus #vwbug #karmannghia #pre67vw

A post shared by Rob Amos (@pre67vw) on Nov 5, 2018 at 10:41am PST