'I went to a car boot sale with £20 and found everyone after the same thing'

North Wales Live

17-05-2025

Car boot season is upon us and for many the urge to burrow out bargains is irresistible. Treasures potentially await in other people's trash - though it's easy to succumb to temptation and buy something you have absolutely no use for.
It's been a while since Emma Gill last attended a car boot sale. After setting up a stall to sell her children's toys when they were younger, the early morning wake-up call and haggling over items worth pounds wasn't something she was eager to do again soon.
However, one car boot sale near her is thriving and you don't need to rise with the lark to enjoy it. In addition to the usual Sundays, Bolton Car Boot Sale now also operates every Wednesday.
It welcomes sellers from 10am and buyers from 11am. Parking costs a pound, or £3 if you want to arrive early. Paying a visit, Emma described what she found, reports the Manchester Evening News.
I arrived just after 11am - this time as a customer - at the location outside the Bolton Wanderers stadium in Horwich. The place was already bustling, with rows of sellers and hundreds of shoppers scouting for deals.
Having scanned the stalls, I was pretty confident that, whatever you're looking for, you'll find it here.
I found a huge range of items on offer, from clothing ("All ladies clothes 50p" one seller announced) to trainers, toys, tools, toilet rolls (£6 for a pack of 36, if you're curious), plants, computer games and everything in between. Wheelchairs were even being sold for a bargain price of £30 each.
One young lad seemed thrilled with the tub of mini cars his mum had bought, insisting on carrying the entire box while being pushed in his trolley.
It's places like this where you can find the toys your child loves that are sometimes no longer available in shops.
Shoppers were out in force, rifling through the various stalls for hidden gems. The main attraction, however, was the "meat man" in his blue Nationwide Meats van. With his sales pitches booming over the microphone, he was serving up a storm .
In the busy crowd, one customer scored an amazing deal of "£80 worth of tomahawk steaks" for just £30, plus some complimentary beef. Another bagged an assortment of minty lamb, ribs, and chicken for mere £20.
I too succumbed to the "plenty for £20" offer, initially opting for some steaks but then finding myself exchanging £20 for a hefty bag bursting with meat.
And so it was that I went home with 770g of peppered steaks, 2.7kg of jumbo sausages, and 3kg of chicken drumsticks.
I began questioning my storage capabilities at home. Fortunately, after a bit of reshuffling, everything nestled into the freezer just fine.
Laden with my purchase, I headed back to the car, overhearing a woman excitedly relay on her mobile that "the meat man's here".
The event conveners had even taken to Facebook to confirm the meat vendor's presence following eager inquiries.
"So many people asking", they said. "Yes, yes, the meat man will be here every Wednesday and Sunday."
Who would have thought a midweek car boot sale could draw such a crowd?
Yet, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, it's perhaps no surprise that folks are jumping at the chance to save a few bob - and snag some bargain bangers in the process!
The car boot sale takes place in the stadium car park on Burden Way, adjacent to Middlebrook Retail and Leisure Park.
It has been operating on Sundays since 2016, attracting up to 400 sellers each week. The Wednesday car boot sale, launched just four weeks ago, is already drawing up to 200 sellers.
On Wednesdays, it costs £10 to sell from any car or van, with sellers setting up from 10am and buyers arriving from 11am.
On Sundays, the fee is £14 for a car and £20 for a van, with sellers present from 5.30am and buyers from 7am. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
There's no need to book - just show up. For more information and updates, check out their Facebook page here.