The show Edgar Brothers never has to argue about
It is the Cheshire-based distributor's single biggest marketing expense of the year, and Graham Turner says exhibiting has never once been in doubt. He explains what a successful stand looks like for them, why the rodeo bull worked, and what the trade gets that the public does not see
The Edgar Brothers stand at the NEC, carved into four areas around Zoli, Hornady, optics and Bergara
Ask most distributors how the shows get chosen and you will hear a careful account of budgets, returns and hard-headed reviews. Ask Graham Turner of Edgar Brothers and the answer is disarmingly short.
“When we’re mapping out the year ahead, the conversation is always: right, the British Shooting Show is set for February, and then what else are we doing?” he says. “There’s never a question of whether we’re doing the British Shooting Show or not.”
Edgar Brothers has exhibited since the show’s second year in 2010. The company has done every year since, following the show from Newark to Stoneleigh and on to the NEC.
What the show costs a distributor of this size
Graham is unusually candid about what the show costs. By the time the stand, the entertaining and the hospitality are totalled, the event becomes the largest single line in his marketing spend.
“Doing the show as a distributor of our size, and what we like to do, is a massive outlay and an expensive outlay,” he says. “And, don’t take this in the wrong way, if we could not do it, then we wouldn’t. But because the show is so good and so important, then we have to do it. It’s our biggest single expense, but it’s never in question and it’s never in doubt. It is the best by a considerable distance.”
Reaching a cross-section of shooters no other event delivers
What Edgar Brothers is buying is a cross-section of shooters it cannot reach any other way. The company sponsors competition shooting and runs its own events, but Graham is clear-eyed about the ceiling on those. “If we sponsor a PRS event, we’re only talking to PRS shooters.”
The show breaks that constraint. “It’s the best opportunity for putting our products in front of shooters,” he says. “You speak to a lot of people that are new to the sport, be it they’ve just been clay pigeon shooting a couple of times, or they’ve got into the local pheasant syndicate, right through to the international PRS guys. It’s such a huge cross-section that we get to talk to everybody.”
Why trade and consumer under one roof matters to a wholesaler
Part of what makes that reach possible is the show’s unusual dual character. The British Shooting Show is one of the very few events that serves trade and consumer at the same time, under one roof, and for a wholesaler that distinction is anything but incidental. Edgar Brothers cannot sell to the public, so the show is where it puts brand and product in front of end users while, a few feet away on the same stand, doing the trade business that pays for being there. Few events let a distributor work both audiences at once, and it is a large part of why this one is non-negotiable.
Selling Edgar Brothers to the brands it represents
That second audience, less visible, shapes how the stand is built. Edgar Brothers does not only sell to dealers and end users. It sells itself to the manufacturers whose brands it represents, and they come to Birmingham to look.
“It’s a good one for them, and it’s good exposure for us, not just to the end users but to our manufacturers, who are our customers as well, because we still have to sell Edgar Brothers to Hornady,” Graham says. “It’s not just about numbers in the order book. We have to demonstrate to our manufacturers that we are the best option for representing their brand in the UK.”
The location helps make that case. “Geographically the BSS is fantastic. We bring in manufacturers from all over the world, and they always comment that it’s the only show where they can get off the plane and walk straight to the stand and the hotel.”
How the 2026 stand was built around how people behave
Edgar Brothers’ 2026 stand was carved into four, with Zoli on one side, Hornady on the other, a combined optics area and a substantial section for Bergara. Each area was designed around how people behave: rifles displayed clean and reachable around a lit PRS-style rest, a quieter, more comfortable space for Zoli’s high-end shotguns, because customers want to sit and talk through customisation.
Why the Hornady rodeo bull worked
Reloading presented the hardest brief. “You can’t really show bullets. It’s a bit boring,” Graham says. The answer was a reloading den built to look like somebody’s dream setup, and, alongside it, the famous Hornady rodeo bull.
It began, as these things do, as a joke in a brainstorm. Then Graham costed it, found the three-day hire including an operator came in at a reasonable price, and realised the branding and content possibilities were considerable.
It was, he concedes, a gamble. It was also the thing everybody talked about. “You’d go for a coffee and overhear people chatting about the bull,” Graham reveals. The stand was busy for three days straight, the social content wrote itself, and Hornady, whose approval was sought beforehand, loved it.
What three days together does for the company
For all the money and manufacturers, Graham is quick to say the show does something for the business that has nothing to do with selling. It is one of the very few times the whole company is together in one place. “You may end up with our graphic designer sitting next to one of the young apprentices from the warehouse, and everybody gets to know everyone. Meeting a colleague in the office is very different to sitting down with them over dinner. You always start off talking about work, but then that conversation moves on and you find out an awful lot about each other. It’s very good team building.”
The Friday night drinks party, now in its fourth or fifth year, has grown from an internal dinner into something closer to a service to the trade. Invitations go to everyone, tickets are limited, and last year Edgar Brothers catered for 200 and still ran out of food.
What the show’s new owners plan next
Of the show’s new owners, Simon and Selena Barr of Time Well Spent Group, he is unambiguous. He understands they intend to refine the event, holding visitors for longer with more content and more stages, so that it grows from a retail and showcase event into something with more to see and do across the three days, and he is firmly behind the direction of travel. “It’s more refinement than revolution. The basic template is pretty right. It can be improved, always, but it’s a great event.”
The Great British Shooting Show returns to the NEC Birmingham on 12, 13 and 14 February 2027.
Frequently asked questions
When is the next Great British Shooting Show?
The show returns to the NEC Birmingham on 12, 13 and 14 February 2027, running across three days.
Does the British Shooting Show serve the trade as well as the public?
It does, and it is one of very few events to do both at the same time under one roof. That matters to a wholesaler such as Edgar Brothers, which cannot sell to the public: the show lets it put brand and product in front of end users while doing trade business a few feet away on the same stand.
Which brands does Edgar Brothers distribute?
The Cheshire distributor, founded in 1947 and based in Macclesfield, represents Hornady, Bergara and Antonio Zoli among others. Its 2026 stand was divided into four areas covering Zoli, Hornady, optics and Bergara.