12-Jun-2026
Rightgun.uk is proud to be an official media partner of Manor & Co for The Game Fair 2026.
If you own an AYA or have been thinking about buying one, the last weekend of July 2026 is worth marking in the diary. AYA, through its UK dealer & distributor Manor & Co, is bringing a dedicated side-by-side category to the clay shoot, a free concourse competition for AYA owners split by age of gun, and a stand at Ragley Hall where AYA owners are genuinely welcome to bring their guns, meet other owners, and pick up some giveaways along the way.
This is the first in our series of blogs running up to The Game Fair, covering everything AYA and Manor & Co have planned for the weekend.
What's happening: the headline details
Three things to know if you're an AYA owner heading to Ragley Hall this July:
A Side by Side category in the clay shoot competition, sponsored by AYA, with a trophy and £250 prize money awarded on each day of the Fair.
A Concourse competition on the Manor & Co stand, free to enter, split into two categories, guns made before 1985 and guns made after 1985, each with its own trophy and £200 prize money.
Free promotional giveaways and a place for AYA owners on the Manor & Co stand, where owners can bring their guns, compare notes with other AYA enthusiasts, and spend time with the people who import and support these guns in the UK.
The Side by Side clay shoot category
AYA's sponsorship of a dedicated Side by Side category means that, for the first time at this scale, side-by-side shooters at The Game Fair are competing on their own terms, not against the over-and-under scores that dominate most clay competitions.
With a trophy and £250 up for grabs on each day of the three-day Fair, that's a total prize pot of £750 across the weekend for side-by-side shooters specifically. Whether you're shooting an AYA No. 4, a No. 2 sidelock, an XXV, or any other side-by-side, this category is open to you.
Why a side-by-side category matters
The side-by-side is a genuinely different shooting discipline to the over-and-under. The wide, flat sighting plane encourages a more instinctive style of shooting; the gun becomes a pointing instrument rather than an aiming one. Shooters who are used to over-and-unders often find that time on a side-by-side reveals habits in their mount and swing that had been hidden; the reverse is also true.
A category built specifically around the side-by-side removes the awkward comparison with rib-sighted scores and gives this style of shooting the recognition and the prize money it deserves.
The AYA Concourse on the Manor & Co stand
This is the part of the weekend built specifically for AYA owners, and it's free to enter.
The Concourse is split into two categories based on the age of the gun:
Guns made before 1985
Guns made after 1985
Each category has its own trophy and £200 prize money, making a total of £400 plus two trophies up for grabs across the Concourse alone.
Why split at 1985?
The split reflects the real history of AYA production. Guns made before 1985 represent the company's earlier era, a period that includes some of AYA's most celebrated models and the kind of guns that have, in many cases, been in families for two or three generations. Guns made after 1985 represent the modern era of AYA production, including the models most commonly seen for sale new today.
Splitting the Concourse this way means a beautifully kept 1970s No. 2 isn't competing against a 2015 No. 4, each is judged within its own era, which makes for a fairer and more interesting competition for owners and onlookers alike.
What does "best presented" mean?
Unlike the clay shoot, where performance is what counts, the Concourse is about the gun itself. Judges will be looking at the overall condition of the gun relative to its age, the quality of the wood-to-metal fit, the state of the finish on barrels and action, and how well the gun has been cared for over its life. A gun doesn't need to be unused or pristine; a well-maintained gun that has clearly been shot and loved can present just as strongly as one that has barely left its case, particularly in the pre-1985 category where honest patina is part of the story.
How to enter
Entry is free. AYA owners simply need to bring their gun, with shotgun certificate, as always, to the Manor & Co stand at Ragley Hall during The Game Fair (24 - 26 July 2026).
More than a competition: a place for AYA owners
Beyond the prizes, Manor & Co's stand is designed as a genuine meeting point for AYA owners at The Game Fair. There will be free promotional giveaways throughout the weekend, and whether or not you're entering the Concourse or the clay shoot, owners are welcome to stop by, bring their gun if they'd like to show it off, and spend time with people who know the AYA range inside out.
For a brand with over a century of history and a genuinely loyal ownership base in the UK, this kind of informal gathering matters as much as the formal competitions. If you've ever wondered how your gun compares to others of its era, or wanted to talk through a question about your model with someone who really knows AYA, this is the place to do it.
A brief history: AYA and the side-by-side tradition
For readers newer to the AYA name, some context helps explain why this weekend matters to so many UK shooters.
AYA was founded in 1915 in Eibar, in Spain's Basque Country, a region with centuries of arms-making heritage. Miguel Aguirre and Nicolás Aranzabal trained under the German gunsmith Eduardo Schilling before returning to Eibar to found Aguirre y Aranzabal. By the 1950s, the name had become well established in the UK: at a time when British "best guns" were becoming prohibitively expensive, AYA offered sportsmen beautifully crafted, reliable shotguns at a more accessible price.
Since 1945, AYA has produced more than 600,000 shotguns, output that reflects sustained demand across eight decades and major shifts in shooting culture. AYA remains one of only three gunmakers still producing fine shotguns by hand in Eibar, alongside Grulla and Arrieta, and continues to build guns using the hand-fitting methods that have defined the company since its founding.
The model range spans the No. 4 boxlock, the most practical and most produced AYA, and a dependable game gun, through to the No. 2 sidelock, the No. 1 best gun, and the XXV, the short-barrelled driven-game gun whose dimensions echo the Churchill 25-inch tradition and have made it a favourite on high-bird days. This is also the spread of guns most likely to feature across the Concourse's two categories, earlier No. 2s and No. 1s in the pre-1985 category, and more recent No. 4s and XXVs in the post-1985 category.
Buying, selling or valuing an AYA before the Fair
If The Game Fair has you thinking about your own AYA, whether you're considering entering the Concourse, looking to buy one before the weekend, or wondering what yours might be worth, a few starting points:
New AYA shotguns currently enter the UK market at approximately £2,000 to £3,000 for the No. 4 and XXV models, rising for sidelock examples. The used market is healthy at every price point below that, and a well-kept pre-1985 example, properly serviced and stored, can still shoot every bit as well as the day it left Eibar.
You can browse current AYA listings, new and used, on Rightgun.uk, and use the gun valuation calculator to get a sense of current market values, useful whether you're buying, selling, or simply curious where your Concourse entry might sit in the market.
Practical details: The Game Fair 2026
Dates: Friday 24th to Sunday 26th July 2026
Venue: Ragley Hall, Alcester, Warwickshire
Opening hours: 09:00–18:00 (09:00–17:00 on Sunday)
Manor & Co stand and AYA Concourse: On Gunmakers' Row, the Red car park entrance gives the most direct route to the shootline and Gunmakers' Row
AYA Side by Side clay category: On the shootline, running across all three days, with a trophy and £250 awarded each day
Gun storage: Available on site at £10 per gun per day; shotgun certificate must be shown on drop-off and collection. No overnight storage.
Over 130,000 visitors are expected at The Game Fair in 2026, and Gunmakers' Row continues to be one of its central draws, the place where serious gunmakers, dealers and shooters meet in person.
What's next
This is the first of our blogs covering AYA's plans for The Game Fair 2026. Over the coming weeks, we'll be covering more details on the Concourse entry process, what to expect from the Side by Side clay category, and a closer look at some of the AYA guns likely to feature on the Manor & Co stand. Keep an eye on the Rightgun.uk blog for updates.
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