New Christmas lights go up early in Stourbridge after High Street was half left in darkness last year

As the festive season neared last year it emerged that the town’s traditional banner Christmas lights that had been strung up across the High Street year after year were no longer suitable or safe to use.

Ryemarket Shopping Centre manager Aaron Powell, chairman of Stourbridge BID (Business Improvement District), tried to work a Christmas miracle by sourcing a few smaller lamp post lights to ensure at least some of the town was lit up, but they were only installed in the main High Street, with Lower High Street left in darkness.

The situation left traders and visitors to the town disappointed, to be consoled only with promises that this year things would be put right.

Now, with a new BID manager in place since the summer, 22 new lights have now been bought and paid for with the new BID funding and they’ve already been installed on lamp posts across the town ahead of the festive season.

Ben Thompson, who was appointed manager of the new Stourbridge BID in June, said: “We’ve maximised coverage as much as we can. There’s a few lamp posts that we couldn’t use down in Lower High Street, as they need updated infrastructure, but hopefully we’ll be able to spread it further down next year.”

Stourbridge business owner Peter Cox, of Stourbridge Music Centre in Lower High Street, said: “There’s one set of lights this year. It’s better than none! We’re happier.”

Aaron Powell, Ryemarket Shopping Centre manager, said the BID has stepped in to work alongside key stakeholders and the council to bring in new Christmas decorations in the town centre "following feedback and disappointment from businesses in the town over the quality and lack of Christmas decorations in recent years".

He said the new decorations have a "shooting star theme with motif-style decorations on the lamp posts along High Street and Market Street, as well as cross-street feature decorations in Lower High Street and Coventry Street" and he added: "There are already plans to build on this for next Christmas, as the council begins upgrading and replacing lamppost columns in the town, which will allow for additional power sockets to be installed and even more decorations to be added.

"This move follows the gradual decline of the outdated decorations formerly delivered by the Chamber of Trade, which had become beyond repair and expensive to maintain. Last year, the council sourced a small number of borrowed decorations, but this meant that some areas — including Lower High Street — went without. The BID Board recognised this when it was established earlier this year and has worked hard to ensure significant improvements for this year and beyond."

BID manager Ben, who grew up in Stourbridge, has also taken a lead in organising the town’s Christmas lights switch-on event which will take place on Saturday, November 22.

The family-friendly festive event will include a Christmas market, hosted by LSD Promotions, which will include craft and food and drink stalls throughout the high street, carol singers, brass band, fairground rides, street entertainment and a large inflatable snow globe in the Ryemarket throughout the day.

Ben said: “It’s an honour to be able to take the reins and head it up and be able to make key decisions, and hopefully make some improvements on previous years and build upon that.”

There will also be a host of festive entertainment taking place in the Ryemarket in the run-up to Christmas including Bjorn the Polar Bear on Saturday, December 6; gingerbread workshops on Saturday, December 20; and the return of The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who on Tuesday, December 23.

The Salvation Army Christmas Brass Band will also perform on December 6 and December 13.