Town centre launches ‘cracker’ of a Christmas campaign

Shoppers are being urged to ‘Win Your Christmas’ by taking part in a Northampton town centre Golden Ticket giveaway.

Four lucky winners will each win £500 of vouchers as part of the £2,000 prize fund, simply by hand-posting an entry ticket into one of 10 special post boxes found in shops and businesses in the town centre from Saturday, 18 November onwards.

Tickets are available from retailers around the town and can also be downloaded from the BID’s website.

The Golden Ticket campaign, organised by Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) will encourage people to ‘shop local’ this Christmas and support Northampton businesses, with the added incentive of a prize to spend in town centre shops and businesses of their choice.

BID Operations Manager Mark Mullen said: “We’re all looking forward to spreading a bit of festive cheer this Christmas and our Golden Ticket giveaway is the perfect way to put smiles on the faces of four lucky families.

“The competition is a key component of our Christmas campaign and we can’t wait to see thousands of people enjoying a host of activities in our town centre.”

No festive season is complete without a visit to Father Christmas and families will be able to visit Santa’s Grotto in Grosvenor Shopping Northampton on Saturday, November 25 and then from 10.30am to 4pm every Saturday and Sunday in December prior to Christmas, as well as weekdays from Monday, 18 December to Friday, 22 December.

This year’s Grotto, which can be found on the upper mall of the centre next to The Lewis Foundation Outlet Store, has been built in partnership with students from Northampton College.

On Saturday, 2 December, St Giles Street will be closed off to vehicles to allow shoppers to enjoy ‘A Festive Celebration in the Cultural Quarter’. The event will feature jazz singers and roaming street entertainment while cafes will be permitted to serve on pavements outside, creating a seasonal street party atmosphere.

Throughout December, an interactive Christmas song lyric trail will be hosted on the LoyalFree smartphone app, giving shoppers the chance to visit multiple businesses to complete the lyrics of festive favourites. The trail has been funded by West Northamptonshire Council.

An ice rink and family-friendly curling lane will be available in Commercial Street car park on the weekend of 9/10 December and from 16-22 December. The ice rink has been provided by West Northamptonshire Council with the BID funding the curling lane.

A 24-hour Christmas radio station dedicated to Northampton will be hitting the airwaves this December. Operated by NLive Radio, and sponsored by the BID, the digital station will be playing back-to-back Christmas songs, with businesses able to provide sound clip to be played as adverts.

For more information, and details of how to book for Santa’s Grotto, visit www.discovernorthampton.co.uk