Upon arrival, the South of England Showground certainly offered more space on paper compared to the previous Sandown Park Racecourse. With large outdoor areas and multiple indoor halls, the hope was for a more spacious and enjoyable layout. However, the reality fell a bit short. The site feels very agricultural, with the halls being slightly run down cow sheds. About as far from a photogenic backdrop as you can find for meticulously restored and rare vehicles.

The Queen's Jubilee Hall, which housed the highly anticipated concours vehicles, felt particularly cramped. With cars squeezed in bumper-to-bumper, the limited space left visitors shuffling through the hall with barely enough room to pause for a decent photo.

The swap meet was another disappointment. This time the location was not the problem, but a lack of vendors. The swap meet was in a big enough area (albeit another cow shed type building) but just didn't have enough people selling. It's easy to put this down to people buying stuff online these days, but when you see the success of the recent Slough Swap Meets (sadly discontinued - but not due to lack of support) and the brilliant Midlands Swap Meet, clearly there is still an appetite for rummaging through old oily parts looking for a bargain. It also seemed far less attended than previous Volksworlds. 

One highlight of the VoWo show was the club displays. The outdoor club area had more breathing space than the indoor show cars, making it easier to enjoy the variety of vehicles on display. The outdoor setting was somewhat at the mercy of the weather - a gamble with UK events in March. Luckily the rain held off for most of the day.

Overall, it felt like a pretty good show, but it felt like the first one, not a long established show that had moved venue. It wasn't "Volksworld", it was something else, something new. Was it better than the old Volksworld? Well, no - not in my opinion, and it didn't benefit from being any cheaper as a spectator either. Am I inspired to build a show car that could be on display at the next show? No, it didn't do that either. If I was looking for a show to debut a car now, I think I would pick Classics at the Clubhouse - which doesn't actually have any indoor areas at all, but I think has now moved into first place as the UK's premier aircooled VW event (Stanford Hall is an amazing show, but isn't aircooled only).

View some photos from the Volksworld 2025 show here.