In Miami last year, Bridge did both — a hotel fair in Miami Beach and a booth fair in Wynwood. Although they will do the same this December, Workman clearly locates Bridge’s continuing success in the more prestigious world of booth fairs. Though apparently that’s easier said than done in London.

“We were in a hotel in London last year. But our galleries need to be able to sell at higher prices and participate in a market that will be a good investment for them. Doing a hotel show there was a bad bet, we felt.”

So, is it also simply a question of finding the right location?

“In London,” Workman concluded, “you need to be near the West End and Regents Park. You can’t have people driving an hour to get to your venue. That was the challenge for us, and we felt that we couldn’t quite bring it off. We needed another year, and so we decided to postpone.”

Year ’08 Art Projects, by contrast, had found the perfect location — the cavernous Old Sorting Office on New Oxford Street, near the British Museum — but when that fell through in May, they found themselves in precisely the same situation as Bridge and Pulse. “We weren’t able to find another suitable space in the heart of London without the costs rising extortionately,” said Susannah Haworth. “The spaces that could actually house an event of this magnitude within a relatively close distance to the other fairs are few and far between.”

But “it wasn’t for a lack of interest in the fair,” Haworth said, adding that they intend to be back next year with Year ’09 Art Projects. Meanwhile, they are celebrating Frieze week with a reception and an exhibition of Paul Peden’s paintings at the Zetter Hotel in Clerkenwell on Friday night.