Late Night Shopping Smash

Santa Claus hit Lowestoft's Historic High Street on Thursday 10th December 2020, as part of Most Easterly Community Group's Late Night Shopping Event. Many of the High Street's diverse group of independent shops and traders stayed open late to help people re-discover Lowestoft's best kept secret. As one happy visitor said "I've not been up the Historic High St for 20 years and never knew this was all here". Many of the businesses reported good business, including Books + Prints, the cafe next door, appropriately called Door to the Cosmos, and The Art Gallery, all recent additions to the High Street's burgeoning retail offer.

New residents Joe and Christine were impressed. “Really lovely to see all the Christmas decorations lit up and on display. As new residents we were impressed how welcoming the shops were.. and the free mince pies!” Susan Steward, Chair of Most Easterly, was equally proud. “Great to be part of a business community where people work together to support each other”. Many of the shops pulled out all the stops with their displays, including Uncle Sid's welcoming a real live socially-distanced Santa to their shop window. Other businesses had special offers going, like JoJo's restaurant and Toy Joy Oasis.

The Historic High Street has over 80 different shops and services, over 90% of which are independents. “Lots of lights twinkled in the High Street and the top end of London Road North last Thursday evening as shoppers braved the cold for our first Christmas late night shopping event; it marked the first real event of this year’s Christmas.” said Susan Steward (Chair of Most Easterly Community Group) The Most Easterly Community Group (all volunteers) works for the benefit of residents and businesses in the High Street Area, working closely with Heritage Action Zone and other local organisations. It has many projects in the pipeline, including a brand new all-action website. It has regular Zoom meetings (contact the Secretary on secretary@mosteasterlycommunitygroup.co.uk) and can be found on Facebook. We managed to get the story onto Lowestoft Journal's Face Book Page and in the Christmas Day print edition. Big up to the Journal!