NME can exclusively reveal the running order for the massive Merch Market headed to London this weekend, organised by Tim Burgess.
The Charlatans frontman first launched his Merch Market last year, with the inaugural edition taking place in Manchester. With the initiative, the artist provides bands with the opportunity to sell merchandise for free and keep 100 per cent of the income.
Back in October, he confirmed that the 2026 edition would be coming to London’s Troxy, and open from Sunday January 11.
While Troxy will be the main hub for stalls, live interviews, performances and more surprises, there are also other venues participating including The George Tavern, The Old Ship, and The Clement Attlee. Each of these will host even more stalls, interviews and book events.
In December, it was revealed that artists getting involved would include Sprints, Gurriers, Blur‘s Dave Rowntree, Sleeper‘s Louise Wener, Dry Cleaning, Honeyglaze, Doves, Public Service Broadcasting‘s J Willgoose and many more.
There will also be performances from from Tim Burgess, The Cords, Hex Girlfriend, Scarsdale Fats, Stil Life, and Lucigenic & The Kitchen Sink Band, as well as appearances from Dave Haslam, Rough Trade, Kendal Calling, and NME‘s Andrew Trendell.
Now, NME can exclusively reveal the running times for the events at Tim Burgess’ Merch Market London this Sunday.
At Troxy, things kick off at 12pm with an interview with Burgess, hosted by NME’s Andrew Trendell, and continue at 12:45pm with an interview with Mark Gardener, also hosted by Trendell. At 1:30pm, Dave Rowntree and Dave Haslam will be interviewed, and performances come from Sea Fever, The Cords and Tim Burgess at 2:15pm, 4pm, and 6pm respectively.
At the George Tavern, things kick off with an appearance by Mich Dulce and her Midnight Callers at 1pm, followed by Stil Life, Lucigenic, Scarsdale Fats, Spanish Horses, a Tim Burgess DJ set and more. At The Clement Attlee, interviews hosted by Dave Haslam include discussions with Soft tissue Damage’s Anna Whitham, Public Service Broadcasting’s J Willgoose, John Burgess of Disco Pogo and Bugged Out, Dexy’s Helen O’Hara, and more.
To top things off, Oasis and Coldplay have sent over 200 goodie bags for the event, and will be divided up between all venues and given for free to the first through the doors at 11am. Check out a teaser of what they include below.
“Our first London Merch Market is looking amazing – so many brilliant bands, merch makers, authors, fanzine makers, independent labels and publishers are taking part,” said Tim Burgess in a new statement. “Tonic Music are bringing the piano that Terry Hall gave to them and Deano Mumford (from The Rifles) is our resident piano man – he has some very special guests joining him throughout the day.”
He also went on to share how Troxy is “running a couple of guided tours, for the first time in their near one hundred year history” – which you can book in advance here – and highlighted how it is also helping raise funds for War Child by contributing to an auction.
“The George Tavern has ace bands all day – I’ll be DJing there too – all events are free to get in, it all kicks off at 11am and finishes up late at The George. I’m playing a live set at Troxy, so it’s a busy day for me,” Burgess added.
“I’ve been catching up with everyone who’s coming and there are lots of brilliant exclusives and rarities with the actual bands running their own stalls – most of these are at Troxy with some of the bands playing at The George setting up there, book stuff is over at The Clement Attlee with some stalls at The Old Ship too.”
The day will also include Tim’s Vinyl Adventures – a record fair that he’s been running since the publication of his book of that name. At his own stall, the singer will be selling roughly 300 records from his own collection. Discussing the options on offer, he shared: “I’ve carefully selected them so there are some absolute gems in there – from Carole King to a White Zombie box set”.
Entry to Merch Market London is free, and you can find tickets here, and check out updated information about the event here.
Ahead of this year’s event, Burgess has also launched a vintage souvenir ticket generator. This allows fans to create a physical keepsake of gigs in a time when tickets are largely digital. Burgess got the idea after surveying over 2,000 fans on X/Twitter who said they would like a ticket as a memento of the band’s upcoming tour.
The first Merch Market in Manchester saw members of New Order, Inspiral Carpets, Everything Everything, Penfriend, Cabbage, and more manning stalls, while Burgess hosted his own stall and delivered a live performance on the day.
The idea for the event follows The Charlatans frontman speaking out about venues taking an unfair cut of merch sales back in 2021, and saying that “the whole system needs addressing.”
In further comments to NME in 2022, Burgess reiterated his stance was “about fairness” and not money, adding: “Often at Charlatans gigs, our fans smash the record for the bar take at a venue.
A campaign was then started by the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), – which started a directory highlighting venues charging zero commission for selling merchandise – and it was confirmed that 400 venues had agreed not to take a cut of artists’ merch proceeds by joining the database.
