Opinion : Where is the festive street entertainment in Wycombe?

It was quite pleasant at lunchtime yesterday walking down the High Street towards the Parish Church with my lunch box held firmly in my hand to find a bench on which to eat my sandwiches.

The High Street was busier than usual which is a good sign on the run up to Christmas.

Apart from the people walking around there wasn’t much else happening in the High Street. Of course there were the usual protagonists selling copies of the Big Issue and some representatives of a well known charity attempting to get my bank details and phone number.

Surely the High Street, in particular the area close to the Guild Hall, would be the ideal situation for some festive street entertainment to get us all into the Christmas spirit?

Come to think of it Wycombe is desperately lacking in the sort of impromptu musical and artistic accompaniment that other towns allow as standard.

With all the schools in the area it surprises me the children haven’t been invited to sing carols for the shoppers. Why can’t there be mime artists, street entertainers and the like in the town centre to brighten things up?

With Christmas Day falling on a Sunday this year lots of people will take time off in the preceding week to do their shopping. Unfortunately there is nothing to entertain them or put them in a jovial mood so they spend their hard earned cash on presents in the shops of Wycombe.

It’s strange that while nobody is organising street entertainment it seems OK for chuggers (charity muggers) to be presumably be given permits to harass people as they walk along the High Street. For Big Issue sellers to ply their trade in the towns premier street. For vagrants, tramps and gentlemen of the road to sit on the pavement begging for money so they can buy a large bottle of Diamond White to sip while waiting for the night shelter to open.

In Aylesbury mobile food sellers are dotted around the High Street and Market Square to satisfy the hunger of shoppers and passers by. Here in Wycombe there is nothing, just pigeons swooping down on visitors to the town.

It seems that Wycombe thinks all it needs to do is switch on the Christmas lights, give free parking for three days and that’s it. Well, its not.

Christmas shoppers need entertainment to whip them up into a frenzy so they buy all their presents here thus making our town centre prosperous once again.

It’s my opinion there is no Christmas atmosphere in Wycombe this year.

The streets are not filled with music, laughter or the smell of chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

What do you think?

Don’t forget my special Christmas Day blog will be published at 3.00pm on Sunday 25th December 2016.

*My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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