On Monday 4 March, Stratford-on-Avon District Council's Cabinet will meet to agree a change of format to Stratford-upon-Avon's Victorian Christmas Market.
Following the success and growth of the award-winning Victorian Christmas Market, the report recommends altering the format for 2024 to two consecutive weekends rather than a continuous four-day Thursday to Sunday event, to mitigate major health and safety concerns and traffic and resident disruption.
In addition, the number of stalls would be reduced to around 200 a day with a revised layout; no funfair, new traffic management plans, Wood Street, High Street and Union Street remaining open and road closures limited to Bridge Street and Waterside and visitor numbers spread over two weekends.
The debrief following the 2023 event raised a number of issues, including:
- Overcrowding, especially on the Saturday
- Alternative locations of bus stops and taxi ranks
- Excessive noise from the funfair
- Traffic movement, including cars and coaches parking safely, and pedestrian movements, congestion, access for emergency vehicles, electronic car parking signs not working in real time
- Pressure on public toilet provision with very long queues
- Stalls crowded with insufficient gaps for safety and making pedestrian movement difficult
- Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) measures were in place and worked well but due to the numbers of visitors, this would need to be extended for future years
The Victorian Christmas Market is operated on behalf of Stratford-on-Avon District Council and Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council by LSD Promotions Ltd as part of the Stratford markets agreement and there is a contractual obligation for the Victorian Christmas Market to take place.
Any changes agreed by The Cabinet are subject to the agreement of Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council.
