A gloomy Christmas for shoppers in George Street 1967 …or was it ?
The “Big Switch on Week” is always considered as the first week of December.
Festive Christmas lights were on show in town centres around the country, with the exception of Luton’s George Street, which was left “gloomy” for the third year in a row.
Traders lacked incentive for Fairy lights and decorations, blaming the implementation of parking meters, which they claim encourages the people to purchase elsewhere.
The Luton Chamber of Trade never asked the George Street traders to support the notion of lights; there was no sense, they said, unless the Corporation removed parking meters from the town, in which case we may consider supporting the scheme.
Even the enormous multiples refused to support the holiday lights.”Why should we subsidise the costs of smaller shops?” was their response.
Mr Raymond Fox, the Chamber of Trade’s President and a local fruiterer and florist, has always supported Christmas displays in Luton, but after the dismissal of festivities and lights on George Street, Mr Fox decided to decorate his own Christmas tree on the forecourt of his shop in Bishopscote Road.
He concluded by stating that the likelihood of seeing Christmas lights on George Street again is quite small.
He said that Bury Park on Dunstable Road had made a significant effort with their vividly coloured show, which was turned on last week. Three weeks later, at Christmas Eve 1967, the Luton News reported, “It was a cash crescendo at the shopping tills in George Street.”
We couldn’t have been busier, they say; shop managers characterise business as flourishing.” Mr Fox conceded that Saturday was the best day we’ve had in a long time, but the day’s results won’t help local retailers recover their losses.
Normally, the preparation for Christmas begins six weeks in advance. This year, it was cut down to two weeks.
However, no mention was made of the dreaded ‘parking meters’.Good old George Street always rises to the occasion, whether there are lights or not! So it did in 1967.
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