Enjoy a very merry Christmas at Covent Garden

This festive season, Covent Garden’s ‘A Very Merry Christmas’ offers old-fashioned nostalgia. Recognizing it has been a hard year for most, A Very Merry Christmas will provide a warm, traditional and family-focussed programme of events that will warm the heart and soul, while spreading Christmas cheer to all.

UnitedVisualArtists

British-based architectural arts and design collective UnitedVisualArtists return again this year with a bespoke light installation casting a warm glow throughout the historic Market Building. Following the success of last year’s futuristic light display, this year UVA has created four spectacular freefalling chandeliers made up of over 600 LED tubes and 46,000 individual LEDs.

Musical Performances

Every Thursday and Saturday from 12th November, Covent Garden Market Building will be filled with the uplifting sound of some of London’s most talented choirs. Spreading festive goodwill will be free musical performances from the City Chamber Choir and the City of London Choir, plus others. (See appendix for full details). There will also be the usual classical performers adding to the Christmas ambience in the Market Building.

A Very Merry Christmas for the Kids

This year, a little bit of Lapland magic comes to the West End with genuine reindeer petting on the West Piazza, falling snow in the Market Building*and a resplendent 40ft Christmas tree - Covent Garden’s first tree in three years!  For creative kids, Covent Garden will be hosting a series of free, educational and fun workshops with experts demonstrating everything from making Christmas costumes and decorations to creating puppets to act out your own Christmas play (see appendix for full details).

In the North Hall, stirring up imaginations and magical journeys will be professional story tellers, enchanting kids and adults alike with their candlelit tales of festive adventure. 

Christmas Decorations

Covent Garden’s Christmas decorations will evoke feelings of Christmas joy and nostalgia. The Market Building will be full of beautifully crafted shapes hanging from the ceiling, intertwined with the installation by UVA. In addition to a 40ft tree, visitors will be dwarfed by a 32ft giant topiary reindeer greeting visitors who arrive to the Piazza via James Street, and 10ft topiary candy canes adorning the inside of the Market Building.   

Christmas Deliciousness and The Covent Garden Real Food Market

From roasted chestnuts, to warm mulled wine to freshly baked gingerbread men on the Piazza, there will be lots of delicious treats to indulge in this Christmas. Alongside this, the Covent Garden Real Food Market will be the ultimate foodie stop-off for Londoners’ Christmas tables. Along with the normal gourmet fare, there will be luxury mince pies, deluxe Christmas cakes, award-winning stilton from Neals Yard, fresh oysters from McManus Brothers and hand-made chocolates from Jenny Chocolate’s Chocolate Bar. There’ll be the UK’s favourite food bloggers Scandilicious, Eat Like A Girl, Siverbrow, Gastro Geek and more, who will be hosting exclusive themed stalls throughout the season.

All this, plus a table dressing stall featuring everything from seasonal foliage to table-top festive decorations for your Christmas dinner spread, meaning you can use the Covent Garden Real Food Market as your one-stop-food-shop this Christmas.

Crisis

Covent Garden will again partner with homeless people charity Crisis, who are committed to ending homelessness by delivering life-changing services and campaigning for change. Throughout A Very Merry Christmas, Covent Garden will be providing ways to fundraise for this cause. See crisis.org.uk

Superbusking

After a successful programme in 2008 which saw appearances from the likes of VV Brown, The Saturdays, Keane and The Feeling, Superbusking is back this year will a very special all-star line-up to be announced. Please visit the Covent Garden website and Twitter account for up-to-date information.

Bev Churchill, Covent Garden London Brand Director, comments:

“2009 has been a difficult year for a lot of people, so we wanted to invoke some traditional Christmas cheer this season. From live reindeer petting and choir performances to the Christmas food market, craft market and mulled wine, there is something for the whole family this year at Covent Garden - kids and adults alike.”

Visit coventgardenlondonuk.com for more details. You can also follow Covent Garden on Twitter @CoventGardenLDN.