I missed posting this earlier, but the Griffish Isles committee have put out an announcement saying that they "have decided the Pendulum remains the best location for next year" (11/12 May). This is the hotel in Manchester where GI has been held ever since the con resumed after the Covid break. The announcement also mentions that the vendor hall will be in a different, larger room for 2024. I expect that will go down well with vendors and attendees alike.
I've heard entirely unofficially in a "someone told me they'd been told" way that the GI folks did look at some venues in Liverpool (which would be a great city to have as a base) and also Birmingham (maybe slightly weird when there's already a Midlands con in UK PonyCon), and perhaps some alternatives in Manchester, but that none of them were better. Finding a convention venue is incredibly difficult, so I can see why change might not be workable.
That said, it's only fair to say that the Pendulum is not a venue that is universally loved. Some of the issues with it in its few years have been more significant than others, but certainly it's not a place that really appeals to me. If things are looking better financially by then I don't entirely rule out attending GI, perhaps just for the day, but the location announcement makes it unlikely. I nevertheless wish the con well and hope its 2024 iteration is a big success.
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