Birmingham residents and traders are hopeful of a Covid-free Christmas this year – without the stringent guidelines of 12 months ago.
Festivities were scaled down last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic guidelines.
Individuals were only allowed to mix with three families, creating a temporary Christmas bubble.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to comment on if Christmas will be similar this year due to the current Omicron variant.
However, according to the Covid-19 Infection Survey from the Office for National Statistics (12th of November) the percentage of people testing positive for Covid in England is decreasing with under 926,000 people in England reportedly having the virus.
Despite these cautions, PR Executive at Think3 Digital Marketing Agency, Kerrie Ashall from Nottingham has been preparing for Christmas.
She said: “I began Preparing at the end of August, the start of September, I mean I’m not one of those people buying next years decorations and gifts in the sale, but I do like to start early.”
While some buy gifts, others create them such as Sarah Chapman, a mother of four from London who had to start creating her own delicious delicacies after her third child was born with life-threatening allergies.
She said: “Simple food treats, like chocolate advent calendars and chocolate footballs, biscuits and sweets all needed to be researched or I simply make them myself.”
Mrs Chapman hopes for a better year after last Christmas was ruined by Covid measures.
“Last year was horrible,” She added. “My nieces are pretty frail. So, Christmas is extremely important to us. To top it all my homemade table setting caught fire. That was the last straw on a horrible day.”
It isn’t just the gifts that are created or bought from stores that create the Christmas environment but also how the city prepares for it.
This year the Retail Business Improvement District for Birmingham (Retail BID) partnered with the four neighbouring BIDs to create the joint marketing campaign of ‘Christmas in Birmingham.’
This campaign provided countless attractions to the city such as the Frankfurt Christmas Market, the new Cathedral Square Market, and Ice Skate Birmingham.
When Steve Hewlett the manager of Retail BID was asked how this campaign had been received he said:
“All of the ‘Christmas in Birmingham’ attractions have proved to be very popular with the city centre being very busy in all areas, particularly at weekends.”
Those interested in the campaign can find out more from the map below.
