Loft & Spires wins festive window display competition

Staff at a Bury St Edmunds home and gift shop are celebrating after their window display was judged to be the most festive in town.

It’s the second year running that Loft & Spires, in Cornhill, has won the annual competition – and the first time in the 10 years it’s been established that any business has won it more than once.

A different judge is invited to choose the winner each year in the competition organised by Our Bury St Edmunds, which runs the Business Improvement District (BID).

This year the task fell to the Mayor of St Edmundsbury Margaret Marks who also chose two runners up. They were another previous winner and runner up last year, florist Tudor Rose, in Hatter Street, and Bury Sewing & Knitting, in St Johns Street.

Councillor Marks revealed that choosing a winner had been much harder than she’d anticipated when she accepted the role of judge.

She said: “It was an enormously difficult challenge, especially finally choosing between Loft & Spires and Tudor Rose. I must have walked past them at least a dozen times trying to make up my mind but in the end I thought Loft & Spires’ window display was very eye catching, attractive and topical, with all the elements to amuse and engage all ages. But there were at least half a dozen more windows that really deserved to be highly commended too.”

The winning window shows Father Christmas sitting in an armchair in front of a traditionally decorated fireplace, surrounded by gifts and with stockings hanging up for his reindeer.

Romy Abraham, who owns Loft & Spires, said: “I’m so proud of my fabulous team, Lizzy Hall, Alice Garwood and Frances Maulkerson who once again worked very hard to create this display and for it to be judged the winning window again. A lot of painting and making went into the main fireplace prop, but I think one of the most beautiful features is the fantastic fireplace garland created by our in house and highly talented florist – Lizzy Hall, who was also responsible for our rather plump Santa.

“One of the most unfortunate features of the initial window display was down to me with my glue gunning of greenery on top of carrots filling the reindeer stockings. They all turned black and had to be removed post haste. It’s a great honour to be the first business in the town centre to win this award twice and we will be putting in all our efforts to win it again in 2019 so watch this space.”

Loft & Spires will now hold the prestigious Our Bury St Edmunds shield for another year.

It was presented by the organisation’s chief executive Mark Cordell and the Mayor.

Pictured above are the staff of Loft & Spires receiving the shield from the Mayor of St Edmundsbury Margaret Marks.