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Round stalls have always been popular on British fairgrounds. They are generically named “Hooplas” after the popular game of throwing hoops over a wooden block on top of which sat your prize. The hoops were often only minutely smaller than the wooden blocks so winning was not easy! Other games played in these round hoopla stalls were Roll a penny, Beat the clock, Hook a Duck, Throwing a table tennis ball into a goldfish bowl, Roll a ball, Stand up the bottle and even Darts (which seems odd in a round stall if people have poor aim!)

There is something quaint about a round stall and many have been in the same families of showpeople for generations. By today’s standards they are quite a lot of work to build up because there are a lot of trailer mounted alternatives, but it is pleasing to see that there are quite a lot of these stalls still in existence and hopefully they will be around for a long time to come as they do add a special atmosphere to our fairs.

The stall is similar to (and could well be) a standard version made by a company called Marklands. Its exact age and origins are uncertain but I know that it is at least 30 years since it was last decorated with the balloons and streamers design, so it is presumably a good deal older than that.