Christmas fayre comes to Bishop's Stortford

Festivities commence in Bishop's Stortford on Saturday with the return of the annual Christmas fayre.

From 9.30am to 4pm a host of stalls and entertainment will be on offer, bringing yuletide cheer to town centre shoppers.

The fayre will fill North Street, Potter Street, Market Square and South Street - all of which will be pedestrianised – and Coopers of Stortford is using Coopers Walk to host a winter wonderland for children.

The store’s marketing manager Graham Burgess said: “We have just learned there will be a special visitor between 12.30pm and 1.30pm – we can’t say any more than that. And there’s even more for the children with a bouncy castle, inflatable slide, basketball hoops, fairground rides and a catering van with drinks and goodies too.”

In all, there will be over 130 exciting specialist stalls complementing regulars from the town’s general and farmers’ markets.

Visitors can pick up lots of Christmas goodies, from gifts such as hampers and handmade jewellery to Christmas trees and wreaths. Hungry shoppers can keep the cold at bay with warming delights from hot food and drinks stalls.

Children can visit Sparkle the Reindeer in Coopers’ Bridge Street yard from noon until 2pm. There will also be a magician performing tricks, a stilt walker and fire eaters, face painting, pony rides, and roaming princesses to provide extra fun and photo opportunities for those who want to make the most of their day.

After the excitement of the funfair, youngsters can enjoy story time on the Stortbus and of course, Santa will be waiting in his Isabel Hospice grotto at Intercounty in North Street with special gifts for those children who have been very good.

There will be live music and entertainment including Thorngrove Primary School 20 Children’s Choir, the Bishop’s Stortford High School, Bishop’s Stortford Rock Choir, Clark and Johnson, Somewhere 2 Sing, Bishop’s Stortford Ukulele Society, Water Lane Theatre Company, Martin the Magician, Belly Babes, Theatre Train, Tributo, Bishop’s Stortford Town Band, ckmusicacademy and the Salvation Army.

In addition to the Christmas fayre stalls and entertainment there will be a number of other exciting events taking place, including St Michael’s Church Holly Fair, Bishop’s Stortford Community Church’s Crafty Christmas at the Charis Centre in Water Lane and Grove Cottage’s Santa Dash and Reindeer Run at Grange Paddocks!

To facilitate the fun, walking into town is recommended as road closures will operate from 6am to 6pm in North Street, Potter Street, South Street up to the junction with Station Road, High Street up to Basbow Lane and Market Square. Ingress and egress will be limited to pedestrians and emergency vehicles only. Apton Road will be available to vehicles for access only.

During the same period, the one-way system will be suspended on certain roads, allowing for vehicles to drive in both directions. This will apply to Church Street, Water Lane and Barrett Lane.

Also during the same period Church Street, Apton Road, Newtown Road, Water Lane and Barrett Lane will have a weight restriction of 7.5 tonnes.