WALLINGFORD’S traditional late-night Christmas shopping event has been axed due to dwindling support The festive shopping session dates back 30 years and Wallingford was the first market town in southern Oxfordshire to hold one.

But in recent years, traders became concerned that support for the event was falling.

As a result, the Wallingford in Business traders’ group has decided to switch the Christmas shopping event to the daytime and this year it will be held on Sunday, December 4.

The Christmas extravaganza will be combined with a farmer’s market offering local produce including a pig roast and wines produced at the nearby Brightwell-cum-Sotwell vineyard. There will also be charity stalls in the Regal Centre.

Wallingford in Business spokesman Elaine Hornsby said: “Our Christmas fair on December 4 is going to be fabulous and lots of traders who don’t usually open on a Sunday have pledged their support and will open on the day.

“This is a break with tradition but Wallingford is leading the way with something different.

“The problem with late-night shopping was that shoppers could be put off by the dark and the weather and the event was becoming such hard work to organise.”

Ms Hornsby added that mayor Colin Dolton would switch on the Christmas lights at 4pm and that another attraction would be a giant postbox for children so that they could post letters to Santa. The event will run from 11.30am to 4.30pm.

Derrick Hoare, chairman of the Wallingford Partnership, an umbrella group for organisations including Wallingford in Business, Wallingford School, the town council and local charities, said: “Businesses decided that the late-night shopping event had run its course.”

There were signs last year that late-night shopping was on its last legs when some shops said they would not be taking part.

This year’s food theme has been introduced after the town council approached Paul Bellchambers to run a Christmas food fair.

He ran a successful event earlier this year but declined the town council’s invitation to run the food fair on December 4. He said: “I didn’t want to run a Christmas food fair because I was concerned there wouldn’t be enough people in the town to support it.”