SALTEX 2026

SALTEX gives your course team two free days to compare mowers, irrigation, drainage and surfaces from more than 400 brands, and to earn education credits at free seminars. It is the grounds management exhibition run by the Grounds Management Association (GMA), held at the NEC Birmingham on 11 and 12 November 2026, with free entry for registered visitors.

Equipment and surfaces you can compare in one place

According to the show website, more than 400 brands exhibit. You can see mowers, utility vehicles, robotic equipment, attachments and hand tools, natural, hybrid and artificial surfaces, seed, top dressing and irrigation, which helps if you are comparing golf course equipment and maintenance suppliers. Battery technology, LED and grow lights, precision equipment, PPE and commercial vehicles are also listed. Products posted by 2026 exhibitors include an autonomous mower, gravel-free and flat drains for sports surfaces and landscape, hybrid line marking machines, airless radial tires for zero turn mowers and diesel heaters, so the drainage and surfacing side is worth your time if you work with golf course construction and design firms. UK turfcare machinery firms with listings here include Reesink Turfcare, SISIS and Redexim UK.

Who you will meet at the show

The show is aimed at people who manage outdoor spaces. Golf and greenkeeping is one of the audience groups listed on its website, alongside professional sports grounds, parks, local authorities, estates and synthetic and hybrid turf. The organizer puts attendance at 7,463 grounds people and says 75% of attendees are decision makers, 36% control budgets of £200,000 or more and 40% place orders at the show.

Free education credits for you and your greenkeepers

The organizer advertises 30 hours of free CPD education and 79 speakers. Learning Live is included free with a SALTEX ticket and runs on three stages, the Main Stage, Spotlight Stage and Community Sport Stage. Its themes include sports turf best practice, water management and drainage, synthetic and hybrid surfaces, weed, pest and disease management, sustainability and climate resilience, and workforce development. If you are a member of BIGGA, you can earn one education credit per hour for each Learning Live seminar, plus one networking credit for attending the show, while BASIS awards up to 6 CPD points per day.

Live machinery demonstrations you can question

The Workshop returns for 2026 after its first year. Led by turf machinery specialists Tom Stidder and Tom Spencer, it runs 30 minute live demonstrations with question and answer time on both days. Sessions cover mower set-up for experienced professionals, sprayer set-up and maintenance, tractors, mowers and attachments for volunteers, and a mechanics forum on Euro Stage 5 diesel engines.

When to go, free registration and parking

• Wednesday 11 November 2026, 9am to 5pm
• Thursday 12 November 2026, 9am to 4pm

Registration is free and is not tied to a particular day, so you can choose which day suits your team. Parking at the NEC is free for SALTEX visitors but must be booked in advance, up to midnight on the day before your visit, and disabled parking is inside Hall 16. Children of any age may attend with someone over 18, and every visitor must register.

Who runs SALTEX and its history

The GMA is a not-for-profit body and says every pound the show earns goes back into training, research and advocacy for the sector. The organizer counts the 2026 edition as the 80th. The show was first held in 1938 at the Hurlingham Club as the National Association of Groundsmen Annual Exhibition. It moved to Windsor in 1979, adopted the name SALTEX, short for Sports Amenities Landscaping Turf Exhibition, in 1994, and moved to the NEC Birmingham for its 70th anniversary. It paused for eight years during the Second World War and for one year because of COVID-19.

Other turf and greenkeeping shows on this site include BTME (Harrogate Week) and the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show, and the golf trade shows guide for 2026 and 2027 lists further events.

Source: saltex.org.uk/why-visit, saltex.org.uk/learning-live, saltex.org.uk/visitor-faqs, saltex.org.uk/history