Bath’s Christmas Markets are to become the first in the country to gain a Quality Rose Marque from VisitEngland, the national tourist board.
VisitEngland chairman Lady Cobham will present Bath Tourism Plus chairman Matt Davis and chief executive Nick Brooks Sykes with the award on Friday.
The accolade comes after the markets enjoyed the most successful day in their 12-year history last Saturday as more than 24,000 visitors flooded into the city.
Some stallholders struggled to meet demand with an unprecedented 140 coaches – some from as far as North Wales, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire – arrived with shoppers eager to snap up the unique locally-produced gifts and enjoy Bath’s unique atmosphere.
By the end of the weekend visitor figures had reached up to 40,000, delighting stallholders who, in the first few days of the market, had battled against poor weather and rain.
Bath Christmas Markets bring in an estimated £11m to the local economy. They also provide the139 local and regional retailers with a fantastic opportunity to sell their wares from quaint wooden chalet-style stalls in one of the UK’s most popular and picturesque cities.
First time trader Paddy Castledine from Festive Pies said: “Bath has always had a great reputation for its Christmas Markets and we felt our festive pies would go down a treat.”
Hungry shoppers tucked in to his Rudolph, Santa and Elfy pies and then bought more to cook at home. “The response we have had has been fantastic, and based on takings for this year, I know I’ll be doubling my stock for 2013,” he said.
Also new to the markets was Becky Hamblin, trader of the Bath Pig Company, who was overwhelmed with how much she sold on Saturday.
From her stall in Bath Street, a new area for the Christmas Markets, she said: “Business was quite slow on the first weekend due to the weather but we certainly made up for it on Saturday. It also helps that we’re a recognised brand around Bath. Our chorizo-based products proved popular as stocking fillers.”
Experienced hand George Hollywood of Georgie Porgie’s Puddings, who this year is at the markets for the fourth time, starts preparing for the event as early as January. “Over the course of the year I will have made up to 40,000 Christmas puddings just to meet the demand of both our market and online customers. However after last weekend I have already had to restock three times and am easily up 20% on last year’s takings,” he said.
The market runs until this Sunday. Mr Brooks Sykes said: “After a few days of unprecedented bad weather at the beginning, I am delighted that visitor numbers are in line with our expectations. Clearly, our Christmas marketing campaign – the biggest ever – which we undertook in partnership with the Bath Improvement District (BID), has worked and the city’s retailers are seeing the effects of this. Bath Christmas Markets remain a firm favourite with both locals and visitors and is responsible for generating significant economic impact for the area.”
The Quality Rose Marque is being awarded following the findings of an independent assessor who traced the whole of the visitor journey which includes the promotion of the markets. The leaflet and website were well designed and contained all the information required to plan a visit to Bath at Christmas, it found.
But it was the market’s overall “very good quality experience” that impressed the assessor. Scoring highly for inquiries made to the Visitor Information Centre, staff were reported as being knowledgeable, enthusiastic and able to promote a range of services such as the park and ride.
In addition to the high standards achieved in all areas it was the attention to detail that impressed the assessor the most – the cleanliness, standard of offering among the stallholders, quality of the stalls, stallholders’ merchandise and the layout of the markets around the centre of the city.
For a list of stalls and other information on this year’s event go to www.bathchristmasmarket.co.uk.
