‘It’s lost its sparkle’, locals fume after ‘Grinch’ council ‘cancels Christmas’ – tourists aren’t visiting
LOCALS have fumed their little village has “lost its sparkle” after the council axed its Christmas panto.
The leafy neighbourhood of Pinner has been praised by residents as the “only place they would like to live” – but their Christmas cheer has been ripped apart.
Pinner locals have revealed their local pantomime was cut during the Covid pandemic – and since then, it’s been cancelled for good.
Once upon a time, on panto night, shops would open their doors late and offer passers-by free glasses of mulled wine.
The event – which had lasted more than two decades – normally saw tourists able to enjoy late-night shopping, with shop windows covered in Pantomime-themed decorations.
Shopkeepers also donned costumes for the night, holding stalls outside to attract about 10,000 keen Christmas lovers to the neighbourhood.
But now, it’s a silent night at Pinner.
And locals have revealed they are “heartbroken” over the decision not to continue the “unique” celebrations.
Krupali Tailor has lived in Pinner for 20 years – revealing her fears the neighbourhood is losing its community spirit.
The 20-year Pinner resident said: “I just feel like we are losing a bit of community spirit. Christmas time before this street used to be buzzing. A lot of the shops have closed down which doesn’t help.
“It is beautiful here they do a lot of filming here. We used to do very well off of our Pinner panto evening because we stayed open late.
“It’s a shame we don’t have that anymore.”
And Marcia Michael – who runs a local charity shop – added: “Honestly it has lost its Christmas sparkle because we used to have a panto evening and we don’t have that anymore it never came back from Covid.
“We don’t get tourists.
“All the shops would be open late [on the panto night] and give out mulled wine, it would bring business to the street and the kids would be doing their carol service and the mayor would light up the street.
“It’s gone now. Covid killed that.
“This street was lovely on that last Thursday of November, and it is gone. Covid did kill it and it never came back.”
TAKING ITS TOLL
Sean White, 67, has spent over a decade running the Queen’s Head pub on the high street, which opened in 1708.
And he believes Christmas revellers have been discouraged from visiting the area because the last Metropolitan Line train departs at 1am.
Mr White said: “It is a vibrant community, it’s a vibrant interesting community.
“The demographics are interesting, it is constantly changing it is very multicultural.
“It has still got a village kind of feel so for those people who are looking at traditional Christmas celebrations.
“I mean we enjoy it here obviously because it’s a pub and lots of people come to celebrate so it’s very busy for us. The council to be fair invest a bit of money into the lighting.
“We used to have a festival called Pinner pantomime and that’s not on anymore which is unfortunate.
“We try to have small events in the pub and try to have those appeal to a cross section of people.
“Christmas in Pinner could be massively enhanced if Transport for London ran the trains all night but they don’t they run them after one in the morning.
“The night time economy is obviously important to me but there are a lot of issues surrounding that.”
But married couple David and Sandra Bliss have lived in Pinner for 54 years and said they couldn’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else.
Sandra praised Christmases in Pinner, stating: “The council put all the lights on, it’s not too busy. We get a lot of people walking through, just having a walk around.
“At the church, they will be putting up the tree, there’s kids singing carols.
“I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, it’s lovely.”
At the time of the Pinner Pantomime being cancelled, the chair said: “It is with regret that the Pinner Pantomime Committee have decided that it is no longer possible to continue the tradition in November. The decision was made as a result of considering the current situation and after consultation with other local organisations.
“The factors included: 1. The costs and obligations increasing year on year to run the event.
“2. The last event in 2019 proving to be a particular challenge.
“3. Members of the organising committee retiring and/or not wanting to continue.
“4. No other organisation being willing to take it on going forward.
“5. The ongoing potential risks of organising the event.”