LONDON— With the stock markets in continuing turmoil, some have found it a little worrying that three London fairs — Bridge, Pulse, and Year ’08 Art Projects — have decided to forgo Frieze week this year. None of the three are exactly newcomers to the scene: Pulse has taken place in Miami and New York for the last three years (with increasing attendance and sales annually) and was in London this time last year; Bridge premiered in Miami in 2006, in London last year, and in New York this year; and Year ’08 Art Projects would have been the fair’s third appearance in the British capital. The immediate reaction to their absence, then, was that it was the long-anticipated evidence of fairs running into financial difficulties.

But according to the organizers of these fairs, they are all are in robust financial health. While it is true that “there is always a certain amount of risk involved in doing any fair,” as Susannah Haworth, co-organizer of Year ’08 Art Projects, pointed out, by their own accounts, the real problems these fairs face have more to do with London’s geography than tightening credit.

As if to prove it, last week Pulse threw a lavish party in the penthouse of the Hotel on Rivington in New York, where London was barely mentioned; the point of the bash was to announce plans for Miami in December. When pressed on London, fair founder and director Helen Allen said that the issue with the British capital was a very familiar one: location, location, location.

“We were closing in on a great venue in a central location. But that fell through at the end of February, and in the time we had left, we couldn’t find a venue that was a suitable size and location,” she explained.

As for returning to the venue she’s used in the past, her answer reflected the sort of problems that come with success: “The Mary Ward House was wonderful for the show that we did there last year. For younger galleries it’s a great, fun, experimental space, but when you have older, more established galleries — the sort of dealers we’re working with now — it’s not appropriate to have a venue that’s in rooms on multiple floors. The most important thing is that my exhibitors feel that my team and I are looking after what’s important to them, and what’s important to them is a great location.”

Questioned if she'd given up on London, however, the news seemed less positive. 

“I haven’t given up,” Allen responded, “but I’m not terribly hopeful. I’ve really, really looked for venues. If you can find one for me, let me know!”

When asked why London is so difficult, she cited the city's sky-high costs: “In London it’s paramount to have a central location, because transport is so difficult. The tubes are expensive enough, but the taxis are exorbitant.”

“Does that mean that there might never be a Pulse London again?”

“Yes, it does, unless I can find a great venue.” For what it’s worth, any suggestion that Pulse will turn up in London again has disappeared from the fair’s Web site.

It’s a similar story over at Bridge. While the fair is pushing ahead with the new Bridge “Verge” fair in Berlin — which will coincide with Art Forum, on view October 30 – November 2 — they’re skipping London this year.

It’s not that the Berlin fair is seen as equivalent to London. “We don’t see Berlin as offering the same sort of top-performing market as London,” founder and director Michael Workman explained. “But it’s on the verge of becoming a top-performing market, so we’re doing a testing-the-market fair with Verge.”

“How is Verge different from a standard Bridge fair?”

“It’s a smaller, more grassroots sort of show,” he responded, “whereas the galleries that have been showing with us over the years have developed an audience, and they want to bring larger-scale work at higher price points.” It’s the same success-as-a-problem dilemma faced by Pulse, in other words. “They want a more museum-grade exhibition opportunity, so what we’re doing is shifting to booth fairs.”

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.