Today I paid my first visit to the BBB. I wasn't actually as impressed as I was expecting to be, finding it fairly similar to the London Fetish Fair, another event that leaves me wondering 'yes, but now what?'. I think these events may be more valuable to the BDSM crowd rather than fetishists - although there were quite a few clothing stalls dotted around the place. There did seem to be a little more variety in the goods on offer compared to the LFF though, from what I could see/remember.
I know the BBB is well known for its demos and talks, but I couldn't find today's - a talk on the connection between mind and body in the context of BDSM. I looked around from 1:30 to 2:00, and then left, so maybe it was running a bit late and I left too early.
The cafe upstairs was still serving its breakfast menu when I popped up there at 1pm - the food was good, and reasonably priced. The latter is more than I can say for the bar, with soft drinks costing between £1.50 and £2 - when a lemonade had only cost me £1 in a Birmingham nightclub on Friday night and the same in a bar on Saturday night.
With a £4 entry fee, I don't think I'd personally bother going back to this event unless I had a specific shopping mission in mind, or perhaps if the demo/talk was of particular interest. Those looking to browse a wide range of restraints etc might find it of more interest though, and perhaps if I'd had more money to spend on odds and ends then I may have been more interested myself... there's only so much fun to be extracted from window-shopping.
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