Pop-up shops: Creative Christmas

The building at 58 South Street in St Neots has had many uses in its history, originally built for BC & HE Co. or the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire Electricity Company in 1927. It’s been a job centre, nightclub and amusement arcade but sadly has been closed for nearly a decade.

We were delighted when the new owners contacted us to ask if we knew of anyone who could use the downstairs shop as they didn’t need it. We took on the venue in November 2017 for the St Neots Christmas lights switch-on and hosted a free creative drop-in session that over 300 people attended. Families not only got to come in out of the cold and noise but got to create some lovely festive crafts and sample some delicious homemade soup made by local chef.

Donations for this event went to local charity Switch Now and we managed to raise £100 for their Christmas social. People were able to see the start of the cardboard town displayed in the window and sit on furniture on loan from The Shop at Forty.

It was our first taster of organising one of these pop-up events and we’re confident that the people of St Neots want more of the same (thanks to the handy feedback tags they filled out telling us so).