We had a wonderful time hosting Canterbury’s fifth Christmas Window Competition and the judges had so much fun soaking up the festive atmosphere – with over 70 entries our businesses proved that Canterbury really IS Christmas.

This year judging took place in 2 instalments. The first round saw judges allocating the 71 entries into Gold, Silver Gilt and Silver categories. Then on Saturday 7 December (Small Business Saturday) the judges visited the top 25 businesses with the aim to choose one large and one small shop as the Judges’ favourite!

We would like to thank our judges: Lord Mayor Cllr Terry Westgate, Ben Kidger (Head of The School of Visual Arts at Canterbury College), The Digital Marketing Department of Visit Kent and Rachel Phipps (Writer and Blogger).

The results

Large Retailers:

Judges’ Favourite:

Fenwick in Whitefriars Shopping Centre  with over 10 windows to dress each one reflects a different element of Fenwick’s merchandise with references to its history through the fully working Knex Big Wheel which dates back to Ricemans’ Toy Department!

Gold: Fenwick, Lakeland

Silver Gilt: White Stuff, Cath Kidston, Fat Face, Zizzi

Independent Retailers: 

Judges’ Favourite: Such fantastic entries meant choosing a winner was tricky for the judges so they were allowed to pick 2 x Favourites and one Highly Commended:

Luke Goldsmith Jewellery, St Peter’s Street

“About our Christmas window…. We wanted to capture the excitement of bringing Christmas home with the spirit of Christmas arriving through your chimney or at your door in Canterbury, with a glimpse of the Cathedral in the distance. We created miniature buildings making the jewellery look over sized. The overall window has the miniature Christmas trees repeated with over sized presents. Step inside our shop and you will see a Christmas dinner table ready to serve with dinner sittings and miniature Christmas books of famous tales. Everything in our window was hand drawn, hand made and hand painted. Which is what our business is all about….”

Angels on St Margaret Street

“Our Christmas window this year is Narnia Theme. We wanted a magical vibe to entice customers into the shop. The fairy lights twinkle around the window frame and we have also added a fairy light curtain as our backdrop! Each year the owner Michelle puts in so much of her time and effort to make everyone’s Christmas shopping experience a little more magical.”

Highly Commended: The Ambrette on Beer Cart Lane

“Like our food offering, our window design celebrates the coming together of Canterbury and India. To achieve our message we have featured Canterbury Cathedral and The Taj Mahal, India. Both iconic and famous for their own rich history and are magnetic, attracting visitors from around the world and are important to the local people. On the inside of the doorway we used bright Bollywood colours following the Indian tradition to express oneself through the mixing of bright contrasting colours and fabrics. We combined these colours with traditional Christmas lights. Our window design is called “Bollywood Christmas” and was designed by Emma Biswal, Kerry Draper and Lesley Ellard.”

Gold: Luke Goldsmith Jewellery, Angels, The Ambrette, Frocks n Stock, Fella, Canterbury Pottery, Whirligig, The Ambrette, Espression Arts Cafe, Lady Penelope, The Drapers Arms, Sowley Gallery, Fitzgerald Jewellery, Eleto Chocolate Cafe, Cosmo China, Falstaff, The Chaucer Book Shop, Cafe St Pierre, House of Secrets, Refectory Kitchen, The Dog Store, Herringbone Kitchens, The Complete Inside Story, Wrapped, Tiny Tims Tea Room, Stark Gallery, Harper Smith Bridal, The Chinaman, Between the Lines, Iconic and Pybus Opticians

Silver Gilt: Shoe Med, Closs & Hamblin, Walrus and Oyster, Age UK, Steven James Hairdressing, Jessica Kennedy, The Cheese Shop, Burgate Coffee House, Amores Brides, County Clothes, Roly’s Fudge Pantry, The King’s Mile Florist, Vinylstore Jnr, Canterbury Jewellers and Pawnbrokers, The Styler, Zizzi, Foundry Brew Pub, Pork & Co, Yi Lin and Level Up Games.

Silver: BoConcept, The Korean Cowgirl, Bills, The Cathedral Shop, Siesta, The Living Lounge, Shelter, Golding Surplus, Loake, Lily’s Bistro,  The Fudge Kitchen, Ortwin Thyssen, Doo Das, Boho, Unboxed Kent, The Little Gift Shop,

Thank you to all the businesses who entered this year. You can browse all of the entries on our Facebook event page HERE or you can take a look at our Flickr photo album HERE.