Belfast City Centre Management crowns festive window display winners for lighting up the city

The light-hearted contest, aimed at retailers and hospitality venues, returned after a one-year break

Belfast City Centre Management (BCCM) has crowned four city retailer and hospitality businesses as the winners of its annual Festive Window Competition.

The competition was created 15 years ago but had a break last year due to Covid-19 and now, BCCM, a not-for-profit company, is proud to announce Nobletts, Søstrene Grene, Rusty Saddle and Mystiques Enchantments are the worthy winners of this year’s event.

Announcing the winners, Geraldine Duggan, City Centre Manager at Belfast City Centre Management Company, said: “It has been great to be able to bring back our annual Window Display Competition this year, at a time when our retail and hospitality business community needs it most. 

“It’s a jovial competition that has helped enliven the streets of the city and it has given much-needed custom a boost as well as lifting the spirits of staff who are working long hours over the festive season. 

“We want to congratulate and thank this year’s winners for the effort they put into lighting up the streets of our city. They have injected magic onto the streets and made a Christmas trip to the city a much brighter one.”

This year’s winners spanned four categories; Retail (Independent), Retail (Multiple), Hospitality and a Wild Card.  The Wild Card category went to Mystiques Enchantments and was based on the theme, ‘Once Upon a Time’, adding to the vibrant schedule of events Belfast City Council is already hosting this festive season to attract more footfall.

Winners received a bottle of champagne and chocolates to share with staff, as well as a certificate to display on their Wall of Awards.  Photographs of the winners and runners-up will be displayed on the Festive Window Display Hall of Fame on BCCM’s website. 

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Kate Nicholl, said: “This is a lovely way to light up the city and spread a little bit of festive cheer among shoppers and visitors in the run-up to Christmas. Everyone loves the magic of fairy tales which is a theme of our ‘Once Upon a Time’ festive programme this year, so I’m excited to see the window displays come to life”.