Chester’s most ‘festive’ windows announced

The team at Chester BID has announced the winners of their festive window competition. The competition was initiated to bring the Christmas cheer back into the city after a year of lockdowns and uncertainty for retailers and hospitality.

It has seen over fifty of the city retailers battle it out, in the run up to Christmas, in a bid to create the most festive windows.

The Judges Award, overseen by The Rotary Club of Chester and Cheshire photographer, Kat Hannon, awarded a gold, silver and bronze award to both independents and chains. They marked each window on overall impression, creativity and execution to determine the winners. The Judges Gold winners are Italian restaurant, Stile Napoletano and Cancer Research UK on Foregate Street.

Judge Gordon Vickers from The Rotary Club said: ‘After a challenging 2020, Chester businesses have outdone themselves. Walking through the city, admiring the amazing windows only reinforced to the judges how festive Chester is as a city. It was a hard choice to make - but the windows that won really deserve acknowledgements  - and will be sure to warm the hearts of shoppers!’

Joanne Critchlow, manager of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘I’m delighted by this win – especially as we used all the stock from the shop to do it! 2020 has been a tough year for everyone, but even in hard times, we’ve been so heartened to see that the true meaning of Christmas – charity has been at an all time high. All the many donations we’ve received running up to Christmas will have a direct impact into the research we can do.’

Giacomo Guido, owner of Stile Napoletano said: ‘We are so happy our window, painted by local artist Nikki Pinder, won the gold prize from the judges in the independent category. We chose Chester as the location to start our business as we found it such a friendly city. And we continue to be overwhelmed by the positive support from our customers.’

The People’s Vote was nominated over social media by over 2000 Cestrians. This was awarded to toy shop Weasel and The Bug, who created a wonderful interpretation of Santa’s Workshop.

Katie Jones, owner of Weasel and The Bug said: ‘We’re so happy to receive this award! We hope our Santa’s Workshop has excited all the children (and the big kids) who are visiting Chester – and looking forward to Christmas Day when the real fun starts! We would love to thank all of the people who voted for us and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.’

Winners: Judges votes –
Small Independents

1. GOLD – Stile Napoletano
2. SILVER – Pictura Studios
3. BRONZE - Share Shop

Medium / Large Chains (5 or more branches)

1. GOLD - Cancer Research UK (Foregate St)
2. SILVER - Ellis Brigham
3. BRONZE - JoJo Maman Bebe 

People’s VOTE –

1. Overall Winner – Weasel & The Bug
2. Facebook Winner – Pour Moi
3. Instagram Winner – The Scented Garden Retreat

About Chester BID Company

A Business Improvement District (BID) is a business-led, business-funded body created to improve a defined commercial area. The CH1ChesterBID is funded solely by the businesses within the city.

There are over 460 businesses in Chester’s BID area with a rateable value of more than £18,000. Each of these contribute a levy equal to 1% of their business rates every year to fund a wide range of improvements identified by the businesses themselves. It is expected that approximately £2.5m of private sector funds will be generated over the five-year BID term and this money will be reinvested back into the city centre.

In June 2019, hundreds of businesses voted in favour of the plans to renew the BID’s term in Chester and on September 1^st, 2019, CH1ChesterBID Company started a second five year-term with the intention of continuing to deliver a more vibrant and successful trading environment for Chester city centre.

For more information, visit www.ch1ChesterBID.co.uk

Pictured - People’s Vote – Overall Winner – Weasel & The Bug.