Hankyu Umeda's British Fair returns for its largest edition yet, October 7-19
Hankyu Umeda will run the 59th edition of its British Fair from 7 to 19 October with roughly 130 stores, which the Osaka flagship calls its largest yet — a reminder that the imported-goods floor event remains one of the surest ways a Japanese department store fills its top floors with paying visitors.
Hankyu Umeda, the Osaka flagship of H2O Retailing's Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores, will hold the 59th running of its British Fair from 7 to 19 October, closed on 13 October, spread across the ninth floor's Exhibition Hall, Festival Plaza, Hankyu Umeda Gallery and Art Stage, the store said in a release. Around 130 stores are taking part, which Hankyu Hanshin describes as the fair's largest scale to date.
The fair is organised around five zones: a "Best of British" hall for scones, fish and chips and pies; a British Pub & Bar section built inside the Hankyu Umeda Gallery; an Afternoon Tea Market for sweets, jam and teaware; and a British Country corner for pottery and vintage furniture. The pub section will host the Japan debut of "The Nutshell," a Bury St Edmunds pub Guinness World Records has certified as Britain's smallest, alongside a Kansai opening for the London tearoom Peggy Portion, according to the release. Among the food on offer: scones from the five-star Rubens at the Palace hotel at ¥400 each, and fish and chips from an award-winning shop at ¥2,139.
A ticketed British Tea Tasting on 16 and 17 October, led by a tea instructor, will run at ¥4,400 per person.
The fair's 59th run is itself the point: country fairs like this have been a Japanese department-store staple for decades precisely because they turn an upper floor into an event rather than a fixed assortment, pulling in visitors who wouldn't otherwise climb past the ground-floor cosmetics hall. Adding a Guinness-certified "smallest pub" and a first Kansai opening for a London tearoom gives this edition something to promote beyond the format itself — a way of making a fair that has run for nearly six decades still read as new.