Oxford Christmas Market 'would be better in St Giles'

Traders and visitors criticised the flat atmosphere and low footfall at this year’s festive market in Broad Street, which ended today (Saturday, December 23).

The three-week event was hampered by the county council's refusal to temporarily close a cycle lane that runs through the pedestrianised street.

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“If you didn’t have the cycle lane there, it would be an improvement,” said Dermot Mcgillicuddy of LSD Promotions, which organised this year’s event.

“Previously it was one site, and you could create everything in that, but it’s now two separate sites.

“It’s just not conducive to creating the best atmosphere.”

He added that Oxford “deserved a better Christmas market” and touted the idea of moving it to St Giles’.

Oxfordshire County Council said the cycle lane was a “key route” used by “thousands of cyclists” every day.

The festive fair has been run in Broad Street for 14 years and has typically seen about 60 stalls selling their wares.

But this year’s event was thrown into jeopardy in July when founder Nicole Rahimi said it was cancelled over safety concerns.

She feared cyclists would crash into visitors if the east to west cycle lane through Broad Street was kept open during the event.

The council closed the cycle route for the 2022 market and diverted cyclists via St Michael’s Street, but said that was “not viable” this year.

After Ms Rahimi pulled out, the market contract was taken over by LSD Promotions, which also runs Gloucester Green Market.

With just months to organise the event, and a cycle lane cutting its space in two, the company reduced the number of stalls to around 45.

Traders were also arranged in two lines, rather than as a square, and were given pop-up gazebos instead of wooden chalets due to the lack of space.

Mr Mcgillicuddy, who is operations director at LSD, told the Oxford Mail that traders were “not overjoyed" with the changes.

But he claimed they had reported takings “on par” with previous years and that "considering we’re in a recession, they’re happy with that".

However, some traders have noted lower footfall at this year's event.

Tian Chaudhry, of dog food company Butternut Box, told BBC Oxford: "There's not that much variety, there's not that much music. I think the footfall is quite low."

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And a less festive atmosphere was also noted by visitors to the market

"It's more like a food market than a Christmas market,” Pam Clark told the BBC.

“I expected to see more Christmas items. We thought it would be covering a lot more things."

Mr Mcgillicuddy acknowledged that having “two lines of traders” was “not as good as having it in a square".

“It’s very restrictive with the current layout to provide entertainment, which is part and parcel of a Christmas market,” he added.

He said he would suggest moving the market to St Giles’ next year, which he believed could accommodate up to 250 stalls.

“A city like Oxford, which is quite big, it deserves a bigger Christmas market,” he said.

A county council spokesman said: “The conditions regarding the cycle lane were in place when the Christmas Market application process started.

“The east-west cycle path through Broad Street is a key route and is important to maintain. Thousands of cyclists use it every day.

“We looked at things we could do to improve safety, such as reducing the width of the entrance to the cycle path to reduce bike speeds.

“Similar events have taken place in Broad Street with the cycle route in place, and these have not led to any reports of collisions.

“We are not aware of any reports of collisions at the site during this year’s event.”