Virtual Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2021 Cancelled Too

The Bristol Hi-Fi Show is seen by most audio fans in the UK and further afield as the starter's pistol of the hi-fi show's year, but there will be no Bristol Hi-Fi Show for 2021 - physical or virtual.

In autumn 2020, the show organisers announced that they had rightly decided to pull the 2021 show due to the current pandemic. However, there had been hopes that a virtual Bristol Show could, at least in part, replace it this year.

StereoNET's Bristol Show booth manned by Rob Follis in 2019

StereoNET supported this and were looking to provide some content. It also appeared that, while there was overall approval of the idea from the industry, not enough people were able to commit to providing the amount of content required for a virtual audio show to be a successful venture.

In an official email to StereoNET, the organisers stated:

Thank you so much to those of you who were able to provide us with video content or had the facilities to do so. However, without the prospect of at least 25-30 virtual exhibitors, we felt that the resulting endeavour would disappoint visitors and damage the Bristol Show brand, which we have spent 34 years creating.

It is a shame as The Bristol Show has always been a great way for us to meet up with you. However, we look forward to seeing you all and catching up in the bar when the Bristol Hi-Fi Show returns on February 25th-27th 2022.

This does leave our hopes for a European hi-fi show in 2021 resting squarely on the shoulders of High End Munich and its revised dates between 9-12th September 2021.

The last news we received from Munich related to the hopes of the vaccine making such shows a posibility with Managing Director Stefan Dreischärf, telling StereoNET: 

In light of this positive prospect, there's every reason to believe that the effects of immunisation will be much more prominent in the late summer of 2021 than in May. We, therefore, expect that by then, virtually no more limitations will apply to international travel.

As always, keep checking in with us for more updates.