Christmas Market revamp - bigger, better, later
Exciting changes to St Albans Christmas Market including new management, a more suitable venue and later opening hours will make it “bigger and better than ever.”
The major revamp is a response to the feedback that the organisers, St Albans City and District Council, received about last year’s event which was attended by over 100,000 people.
A consultation with visitors, traders and other interested groups indicated the public wanted a more visible and accessible site than the walled Vintry Gardens by the Cathedral.
They also wanted more entertainment, later opening hours, more chalets selling high-quality produce and more spaces for socialising.
All of these requests could be met this year with events firm Meraki, which runs a successful summer music festival in the District, hosting the attraction.
The plan is for the market to move to the spacious events meadow at Verulamium Park and become part of Meraki’s Christmas Festival offering.
It will run for three weeks leading up to Christmas and be open six days a week. There will be late night opening until 11pm from Thursday to Saturday.
Meraki will provide additional attractions to create a winter wonderland at the venue. These will include an ice bar, funfair rides, a high-tech Santa’s Grotto and a variety of live entertainment.
The initiative is dependent on Meraki gaining the required planning permissions from the Council.
It is also intended to ensure strong links with the City Centre are established so that its shops, restaurants, pubs and cafes continue to benefit from the extra visitors the market will attract.
Councillor Salih Gaygusuz, the Council’s Portfolio Holder for Business and the Community, said:
We have listened to what people want from the Christmas Market and acted on their demands.
This year it will be bigger and better than ever with later opening hours among the new features.
Vintry Gardens was a lovely setting, but the space was limited. By moving to the events meadow, we have a lot more room to expand into and yet are still very close to the City Centre.
It is vital that City Centre businesses are boosted by the extra visitors the market will attract and we are looking at various ways of ensuring people are encouraged to go back and forth to both areas. We want the whole local economy to benefit.
With Meraki providing a great many other attractions, the events meadow will be one of the places to go to in St Albans during the festive period.
Meraki has huge experience in organising live entertainment, most notably their summer music festival, and I am sure they will make a huge success of this.
The events meadow is a large open space just a short walk from the City Centre and opposite Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre.
To provide a safe site that will be accessible to all, the ground will be covered by protective flooring.
The extra space will allow in more traders to sell arts, crafts, novelty gifts and seasonal produce. There will also a wide range of food and drink outlets offering cuisine from around the world.
The market will open on Friday 30 November and run until Saturday 22 December and the opening hours are: Tuesday 11:30am – 10pm; Wednesday 11am – 10pm; Thursday to Saturday 10am-11pm; Sunday 10am – 8pm.
Meraki is due to submit a detailed planning application shortly. This will include its proposals for car parking and encouraging the use of public transport to get to and from the site.
Councillor contact:
Councillor Salih Gaygusuz, Portfolio Holder for Business and Community Councillor at St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 858289, Email: cllr.s.gaygusuz@stalbans.gov.uk
Media contact:
John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 296130, E-mail: john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.