Canterbury’s Christmas windows were stunning this year! We really enjoyed hosting the Best Dressed Christmas Window Competition. With 50 entries, we were spoiled for choice.
Across the city centre shops, large and small, restaurants and coffee houses decorated their windows in innovative, surprising and magical ways to delight and attract their customers.
On 5th December, Small Business Saturday, an expert team of judges spent two hours assessing each of the windows in turn and marking them for ‘festivity’ ‘merchandising’ and ‘creativity’.
John Siddique, Canterbury’s Poet Laureate, Beth Cuenco, Wise Words Festival Director, Bill Hutton, owner Hutton Design and Rachel Phipps, a distinguished food blogger toured the city to see the beautifully decorated windows for themselves.
City Poet Laureate John Siddique said “It was such a great experience to see the power of creativity in each window and some of the displays just make your heart leap; the tiny nativity scene set in a walnut shell in the window at Ortwin Thyssen Jewellers is just astounding!”
Around two thirds of the entries are from independent businesses in the city. There was a separate “People’s Choice Award” to support small independents: this was based on the number of ‘mentions’ each business received on social media from members of the public, with a picture of the window and the hashtag #canterburychristmas
The winners will be presented with their certificates by The Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Sally Waters, and BID Chief Exec Bob Jones on Friday 18th December.
In the Small Independent Category:
- GOLD – Queen Bee Home
- SILVER – Tiny Tim’s Tearoom
- MERIT – Ortwin Thyssen and Cousins & Sons
- GOLD – Fenwick
- SILVER – Steamer Trading Cookshop
- MERIT – Jigsaw, Canterbury
- Brunch
- Cath Kidston
- Dodgems and Floss
- The Chaucer Bookshop
- Marlowes Restaurant
- The Pound at One Pound Lane