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Victorian Wicklow wins RTE Christmas Towns’ competition

“Wicklow Gaol was delighted as part of the 2011 Victorian Christmas to offer our venue free to host the CFL Christmas Craft Fair.  We were delighted that the stallholders had such good trade arising out of the unique venue.  The Business Showcase was another opportunity to show what the town has to offer.”

 

 

"The Grand Hotel, which was built in Victorian times hosted the RTE crew and the traditional foyer looked splendid with period chandeliers and Victorian Christmas garlands.  A Victorian door man led the crew to the traditional horse and cart chauffeured by Ned Kelly for the trip up the Main St. of Victorian Wicklow."

 

 

RTE has announced Wicklow Town as the Winner of The Business Christmas towns’ competition in the medium towns’ category. Judges selected the Victorian initiative led by Wicklow’s Historic Gaol and supported by businesses and organisations in Wicklow Town as the hands down winner in the category.

The town will feature in all its Victorian splendour on national RTE 1 television next Monday evening at 8.30pm. 

Judges led by Irish Times and RTE Consumer Affairs correspondent, Conor Pope, travelled to Wicklow last week to film the Victorian Christmas experience at Wicklow’s Historic Gaol and to visit some of the businesses, who had rolled in behind the Victorian initiative.

Martina Robinson, who launched the Victorian programme at Wicklow Gaol, says Wicklow will look superb on national television.  “More than 600,000 people are set to tune into the show on Monday – this equates to an ad value on national television in excess of €300,000!  This is the best possible marketing opportunity for the businesses in the town.  We made sure the crew got plenty of shots of Wicklow all lit up in the evening and shots of all of the window dressings in the street.”

 

“RTE have told us to prepare for a big boost in visitors from Tuesday of this week once the nation sees how superb Victorian Wicklow Town looks. We are hoping everyone will keep up the momentum, that those who have ordered in Victorian costumes will wear them for the remaining of the trading period, and that even more businesses will dress their windows in Victorian décor.  This is an opportunity of a lifetime to attract people to Wicklow and give the local economy a well-deserved boost over Christmas week.”

Martina paid tribute to the huge effort, which went into making such a big accolade possible.

“The custom-built Victorian Streetscape leading to Santa’s grotto at the Gaol is superb and we would like to thank Bui Bolg, who built it from scratch.  This would not have happened without the dedication of Marie Comerford and the team of actors at the gaol who have transformed into Victorian ladies and gents, so the Christmas experience at the Gaol is truly like a scene from Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’.  We are also very grateful to Morgan Carroll and Charlotte Wallis who braved the icy weather conditions to take on the role of Victorian children in the streets of Wicklow”.

Some of the businesses RTE were impressed by included:  Connolly’s Man’s Shop – where both Sean and his wife are greeting customers in period costume; Butlers Pharmacy, which is celebrating 100 years in business and was set up in Victorian Times; Hopkins Toy Store where they are displaying an enlarged  original black and white  photo of the shop front from the Victorian period – RTE were thrilled to see Hopkins’ full staff donning period gowns as they interacted with customers.  Byrne’s Furniture and Gift shop displayed traditional Victorian goods in their window and Tom Byrne sported a traditional Victorian costume complete with top hat and tails.  Anne Harris meanwhile displayed a fabulous selection of vintage jewellery in her shop front.  Judge Conor Pope was thrilled with the Victorian recipes in Cullen’s Quality butchers, and chatted at length with Robert Cullen about our traditional Christmas dinner originated in the Victorian era.  He described Robert’s specially prepared turkey with sage and onion stuffing as ‘incredible’ before

heading off to check out Unicare pharmacy where the entire team were dressed in Victorian gowns and had their hair done in the style of the times.  

The team loved the traditional displays in the windows at Wardrobe, Shine’s pharmacy, Bank of Ireland and other locations throughout the town. Elegance Lingerie had gone all out with their window display, which features a traditional bedroom dresser in the window. 

 

The RTE team enjoyed a pint of Ale served by Victorian-clad staff at Ernie’s and Whistlers’ bars on the square.

RTE also had a chat with Town Manager Michael Nicholson and Chamber President Denis Fielding about initiatives such as Free Parking and the Christmas lights, which encourage people to shop local. 

 

They then finished up at Wicklow Gaol where they interviewed Martina Robinson about the origins of the Victorian theme, she made special mention of the partnerships in the Town who helped make Victorian Wicklow a success, Wicklow Town Council, Chamber of Commerce, Wicklow Traders Group  and of course, the retailers and business people who got behind this novel theme.