Traders have raised nearly £2,500 to pay for Christmas lights in Surbiton.
Traders back Christmas lights to make them better than ever
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Comments
I am a local trader in Surbiton and would like to respond to the comments in respect of the Christmas lights. There are many other business names on smaller signs around the tree, which represent ALL the businesses that donated to the lights and set up costs. The newly formed Surbiton Business Community rallied together to organise the switch on with support from Kingston Council. A Mince Pie Bake Off was held as well as an Advent Calendar Hunt for children with a £250 prize. The event was a huge success and enjoyed by all who attended.
The lights on the tree alone cost £1500, a price the traders spent time researching to get the best deal. The lights were made possible this year because local traders paid for them. We hope to build on this each year and to light up Surbiton! Naturally, this will take time and effort. To give you some idea of cost 1 light decoration banner costs approx. £3,500 (excluding installation costs). The small trees that used to sit above the shops cost approx. £100 each and the lights on those were removed by contractors and destroyed. We felt our donations would be better spent on new bright lights for the tree, which will be saved for future use and we hope to build on this from year to year. Surbiton traders donate to local causes throughout the year and I am sure will continue to do so. Hopefully, we can all work together towards a brighter Surbiton.
The local traders have obviously worked very hard to raise funds and tried something,albeit without any great impact.
Clearly to have any meaningful impact would cost many thousands and for just a couple of weeks seems a crazy expenditure.
Why not agree to have a series of late night openings in the run in to the holidays and perhaps offer mulled wine etc,that £2500 would go someway to pay for that and the returning evening commuters might be tempted to spend some money.
Seems to me the real problem is usurious rents,poor parking and the drift to online shopping so I wish all you traders the very best and all the luck with the weather and lets hope the low life at the YMCA etc keep quiet.
That sounds like a good idea, but I am not sure that late night openings are the answer.
Kingston has just started opening it's doors until 9pm every week night up until Christmas, and the place has been like a ghost town so far. That is one of the biggest/best shopping centres in London that is absolutely packed to the rafters during the day. It seems people don't like shopping in the evening.
I bow to your superior knowledge on shopping habits,I have not been into Kingston for over 30 years so am out of touch,but i do see many young,dynamic and attractive young people pouring out of the very busy station at Surbiton and therefore the footfall until say 1930/2000 may be greater than Kingston which had always seemed to me the most unattractive and unwelcoming place to shop.
But being a man and thus only shop for food (occasionally) and anything else (never) unless online,my views are clearly outdated,nonethe less good luck you shopkeepers it must be a dreadful time for you.
I totally agree - the clientele are right, but the shops aren't, especially for Christmas shopping. Kingston has John Lewis, Heals, Bentalls as well as countless nice shops around the market place.
In Surbiton, you can buy shoes at Clarks, clothes at M&Co and toys at the 99p Store - I don't think that is going to cut it with the young, dynamic set!
Surbiton is a great local shopping centre for the basics. Waitrose, M&S and Sainsbury's are all open late every night, there is a Post Office, the new hardware store and plenty of coffee shops to cater for people whilst they are doing their nightly or weekly essential tasks, but I would be surprised if many Christmas gifts are bought there.
Surbiton just isn't that type of town, and I don't think it should ever become one. It doesn't mean that we can't have a few Christmas decorations, though!
"Many young,dynamic and attractive young people pouring out of the very busy station at Surbiton".... hmm i think there lies your problem, young, dynamic and attractive does not equal Surbiton shopping!
I mean don't get me love I love Surbiton as a place but what the hell does it currently offer as a shopping experience? Oh silly me, estate agent, charity shop, charity shop another estate agent, coffee shop.....this is getting painful!
Anyway you see my point, it's a nice idea but certainly not here.
One wonders why the traders bother if,as seems,most posts agree that there is nothing worthwhile on sale in the town.
I don't see why it is down to the traders anyway. If all the people that are interested in having decorations in Surbiton gave just a couple of pounds, I am sure it would add up to a good fund.
When the traders or council do it, it is forcing everyone to pay for it indirectly, not just the people who want the lights.
Thanks for the explanation. It is absolutely mad that a few hundred fairy lights can cost £1,500! I guess that these are 'health and safety approved' lights, because I could go down to B&Q and buy the same amount for £150!
Similarly, £100 each for the tiny trees above the shops is excessive as these would cost about £15 each in a shop, and I am sure there would be volume discounts available. I am sure the labour cost for putting them up would be excessive if Kingston Council insisted on being involved, but in reality you could put 50 of these trees up in two man days if they weren't.
Even without the rock-bottom prices, I'd have thought this would have been a good way to spend the funds:
Main Tree: £500
Lights: £250
50x small trees: £1,250
Labour costs: £500
Don't get me wrong, it is a fantastic effort to have raised £2,500 in the first place and the main tree looks great, but the type of costs being talked about here are beyond excessive.
What happened to the lights???
I missed the festivities last week, but it looks like we have been left with the usual Waitrose sponsored tree and no lights at all.
It is bizarre that they published this story and then no lights appeared! The only thing I can think is that the £2.5k paid for the tree itself and there wasn't anything else left over! Wouldn't surprise me these days.
What happened to the old fashioned lights that used to be mounted on the streetlights up until a copule of years ago? Surely it would be simple enough to get these put back up?
I know that Christmas lights are really just there to support the retail trade, but it is pretty sad that Surbiton can't muster something up - even New Malden has lights!
Yes I thought the same, this can't be right, £2.5K for 1 tree ?? I was expecting a little more if i'm honest ??
The result of "man made global warming" no doubt.
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