00:00 Christmas is officially on its way as Liverpool 1 kicked off the festivities
00:05 with an evening of yuletide cheer and celebrations for all ahead of what is
00:11 expected to be the most successful Christmas trading in its 15-year history.
00:16 I can hear the music behind me now, I can hear children laughing, I know there's
00:21 people dancing and Liverpool City Centre is buzzing. It's the start of Christmas
00:26 and we think this Christmas will be the most successful Christmas on record for
00:31 Liverpool 1. With an 8% sales growth forecast for this Christmas, setting
00:37 Liverpool 1 ahead of all previous records and booking the trends across
00:42 the UK, footfall remains strong they say, performing on average 10 points ahead of
00:47 the UK benchmark. While sales growth is being seen across several categories
00:52 including fashion, beauty, athleisure, restaurants and in particular
00:58 entertainment. Well Liverpool 1 is booking the national trend, visitor
01:03 numbers are very strong, sales are up but then we look at what we've done this
01:07 year, well we've continued I think everyone had that vibe in the early part
01:11 of the year with the buzz with Eurovision coming. Underneath Liverpool
01:14 1's iconic Christmas tree on Chivas Park, Bar Hut has once again popped up just in
01:20 time for the festive season with its unique take on Alpine apres ski and the
01:26 chance to sing your heart out on karaoke in your own private hut. We've got
01:31 performances and entertainment right the way through Christmas as well and it's
01:36 great that working closely with the city's theatres, you know we've got Wind
01:40 in the Willows that have come along to Liverpool from their Shakespeare North
01:43 from the Playhouse, we've got Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we've got Peter
01:47 Pam, we've got Sleeping Beauty, all of that's on offer in the city this
01:51 Christmas so people can come in whether that be for theatre, whether that be for
01:55 shopping, just to enjoy themselves, to meet with family and friends, it's all
01:59 here and we're seeing that people are ready to be out and enjoy themselves and
02:03 come together because that's what people like to do, they like to come together
02:06 particularly at Christmas. They've also launched a special Christmas trial here
02:11 offering youngsters the chance to discover illuminated reindeers, angel
02:15 wings, Christmas trees and festive characters hidden in shop windows. No
02:20 other city like Liverpool, it's compact enough to move around, we've got that
02:24 rich heritage but we've just got a lifestyle, the people, it's magnetic, it
02:29 does draw people in and I think that's what the success is all about, it's
02:32 driven by the fact that we can bring people together, yes we'll all do a bit
02:36 of shopping online but we absolutely want to go out into the shops as well,
02:39 support those people that are working in retail and in hospitality and they are
02:44 spending and that's great to see so don't believe all of the headlines about
02:47 doom and gloom on the high street because if you feel that you are, come
02:50 into Liverpool and you'll actually start to change your mind. Annually attracting
02:54 over 22 million visitors, the retail and leisure destination are expecting it to
02:59 be another busy Christmas.
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