From the 18^th – 21^st of October this Year, the Chichester Festival Theatre car park at Northgate will be closed for Chichester’s annual Sloe Fair, representing a tradition that has lasted for over 900 years

It is the longest-running, and last surviving of five ancient fairs in the city, as the right to hold the Sloe Fair was granted in 1107 by King Henry I to the Bishop of Chichester, Ralph de Luffa (1091-1125). In the Royal charter, Henry I gave permission for a fair but it was up to Bishop de Luffa when and where it was held. He decided it should be held at Canon gate, and fall on the feast day of St Faith the Virgin (6^th October) and last for eight days until the feats of St Edward. The Fair was subsequently moved to its present location and called the Sloe fair because of…