Oldham Council announces Festive Saturdays in Oldham town centre

Oldham town centre will stay busy for four straight Saturdays this winter as the council stages a free mini-festival designed to pull families back into the shops and onto the streets. Each weekend has its own theme, starting with Victorian costume and street theatre on 22 November and ending with Santa's helpers and live carols on 13 December.

The council's plan is simple: give parents something that costs nothing, and hope they linger long enough to buy gifts and food from nearby traders. Leader Arooj Shah says the events are meant to add 'extra magic' while quietly nudging people to spend locally at a time when many stalls are still recovering from last year's dip in footfall.

Market Hall will double as the meeting point. On every event day its own Santa's Grotto opens from 12 pm to 4 pm, so children can see Father Christmas without parents having to book or pay. Dr Kershaw's Hospice will run a separate, ticketed grotto at Spindles from 28 November to Christmas Eve, with proceeds going directly to patient care.

The street programme moves around the main shopping blocks. After the Victorian weekend, 29 November brings light-up puppets and roaming performers, 6 December swaps them for stilt-walking Snow Queens, and the 13 December finale fills the precinct with elves and brass-band Christmas tunes. All acts finish by 4 pm so traders catch the late-afternoon rush.

No road closures are planned, but stallholders say even small crowds can lift takings by a quarter in December. If the weather turns harsh, most entertainment can shift under the Market Hall canopy, a detail worked out after last year's sleet cut visitor numbers on the final Saturday.