National Painting and Decorating Show 2027

How it compares

Trade Decorator LIVE is the closest direct alternative. Its Bolton setting and roots in the Trade Decorator Forum suit decorators who want a community gathering centered on tool testing, spray painting, wallpapering and business topics such as pricing and marketing. The Painting & Decorating Show offers a different setting: a specialist decorating floor within a much broader gathering of building trades. That is particularly useful for firms working across refurbishment, fit-out and maintenance.

InstallerSHOW covers heating, plumbing, electrical work, renewables, kitchens, bathrooms and building products. It is the stronger destination when installation systems or building services drive the buying brief. Decorating contractors can use the neighboring event to understand products and trades that affect their projects, while keeping paint application and surface preparation as the purpose of their own visit.

For workshop production and joinery, Professional Woodworking Expo puts machinery, tools, software and materials at the center. It serves a different equipment decision from choosing site preparation or coating systems. The NEC combination works best for businesses that bridge these disciplines; a decorator focused entirely on everyday tools and finishes has a more concentrated comparison in the painting show and Trade Decorator LIVE.

This is the trip for decorators and refurbishment contractors who want practical finishing demonstrations alongside the suppliers and trades that shape the rest of a project.

Who exhibits

The exhibitor mix combines coatings, merchant supply, preparation tools and specialist training. Brewers brings the merchant perspective, while Caparol and Crown represent building paints and coatings. Axus focuses on the tools used from preparation through finishing; Barrettine adds paint removal and woodcare, and Abode Academy brings spray-finishing training and equipment. Together they make the floor useful for comparing a complete working method, from substrate preparation through paint selection and application.

Last year's exhibitors

1. 

   tesa

2. 

   Mirka

3. 

   Tails

4. 

   Sarten

5. 

   wallPen

6. 

   Furniture Clinic

7. 

   Farrow & Ball

8. 

   Maston

9. 

   Ambro Sol

10. 

    Tembe DIY & Building Products

11. 

    Axus

12. 

    British Coatings Federation

This year's list is on its way. A HallBrief brief ranks every exhibitor against your goals and finds who to meet at each. Get a brief

National Painting and Decorating Show 2027

The 2027 show continues alongside InstallerSHOW and Professional Woodworking Expo, with PlantWorx joining the wider gathering. That adds construction equipment and outdoor demonstrations to the surrounding trade mix. Within decorating, the program features the Tools & Techniques theatre, Trades Talk Theatre and Wallpapering Masters with Dulux Academy. CPD learning and practical workshops give decorators routes into both product knowledge and application skills, while the Networking Cafe & Bar provides a place for conversations between demonstrations.

• Use Wallpapering Masters with Dulux Academy for wallcovering technique, then compare application and preparation tools in Tools & Techniques.
• For CPD attendance, scan the QR code at the end of each session so the downloadable certificate is issued.
• If your work includes joinery finishing, include Professional Woodworking Expo in the visit; use InstallerSHOW for the installation trades around a refurbishment project.