TRADE exhibitors and visitors prefer the Reebok Stadium to Manchester's GMEX Centre.

That is the conclusion of North West Manufacturing Exhibition organisers ETES, after moving their annual show from the GMEX, where they have been for six years, to the home of Bolton Wanderers at Middlebrook for this year's event.

ETES say that the increase in the size of the show owes a great deal to the change of venue.

When the two-day show opens on Wednesday it will be more than 40 per cent bigger than last year's event with nearly 200 companies promoting a wide range of engineering products and services.

Pre-registration has also risen, by 30 per cent.

An ETES spokesman said: "It's not hard to see why.

"Compare ample free parking just 500 yards off a motorway junction, with a city centre venue, then you have the answer."

The company has been running regional manufacturing shows for some years now after attendance began to fall at national shows.

"Industry has been cut to the bone" said the spokesman.

"And when a company is 'lean and mean' it is more and more difficult to justify six-hour round trips in the car to attend a national event.

"Yet the paradox remains that the need to attend an exhibition, where competitors, prospective customers and new developments are pulled together in one place, is almost greater than ever.

"This year we are also receiving maximum support from organisations. No less than nine regional Government agencies and business groups are supporting us.

"There is nowhere in the North-west region that is more than an hour and a half away from the Reebok via the motorway.

"It is a simple equation and we foresee that many more regional exhibitions will move out of city centres to state-of-the-art venues that are easy to get to and have plenty of free parking -- like the Reebok."