Croydon shopping malls Centrale and Whitgift are gearing themselves for the annual Christmas business surge, with a big lights switch-on planned for 6pm at Centrale’s Christmas Tree next Thursday, November 15.
Centrale’s Christmas lights get switched on next week, with Santa’s Grotto opening the week after
This might, just, be the last Christmas when the Whitgift Centre is open for business, before the scheduled start of redevelopment works in 2019. So the centre’s management is hoping to ensure this year’s festive fun goes with some extra Ho, Ho, Ho.
There’s a long list of festive activities planned, including the giving tree, carol singing, Santa’s Toy Workshop Grotto and the hugely popular gift-wrapping service.
On the other side of North End, Centrale’s tree-lighting next week is the first big activity, with the help of family favourite cartoon heroes, PJ Masks.
Throughout the day, the heroes will be available for reading sessions at both Centrale and Whitgift shopping centres, as they perform exciting live-action stories. Then, from 6pm, PJ Masks will be illuminating Croydon by switching on the Christmas lights in front of Centrale’s Christmas Tree.
Once the festivities are in full-swing, Centrale will be bringing the North Pole to Croydon with its very own Christmas Grotto.
Bright, colourful and full of presents, the Grotto will wow visitors with its Christmas magic as it transports them to Santa’s Toy Workshop, combining classic Christmas toys with modern favourites. Opening the weekend of November 24-25, and then every day from December 1 until Christmas Eve, visitors can truly get into the spirit of the most wonderful time of the year.
“The festive season is a magical time of year for all the family, and we are delighted to capture that with these fantastic events at Centrale and Whitgift,” Ian Harvey, Centrale and Whitgift’s marketing manager, said.
“We’re delighted that Santa’s toy workshop grotto is returning this year, along with festive carol singing and the annual giving tree to support local charities.”
Entry to Santa’s Toy Workshop Grotto is £4.50. For more details, visit the Centrale and Whitgift website here.
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You JOKE!!! were it not so serious as the total demise of Central Croydon shopping – nobody in the shopping public really thinks redevelopment will ever start, yet alone start in 2019. Granted Croydon Council and who ever actually owns the Whitgift site still say it will happen, but who do you trust with the benefit of hindsight in the Cultural Quarter, Fairfield Halls?
The public said it would not happen in the way the council said it would, and it hasn’t!
Just dont think about it if M&S and Debenhams in Croydon ……….. House of Frazer might even yet (Oh, I must go and cash in my gift vouchers!)
Michael