Christmas market Oxford

Event manager Rahimi started to think about organising her own Christmas market. She researched all the ins and outs, plucked up the courage and without further ado took the plunge on her own. Rahimi sought out a suitable location in Oxford for her Christmas market, applied for permission from the city council and had stalls built at her own expense. “None of the traders had their own stall because there was no tradition of Christmas markets in England,” she says. So Rahimi borrowed money from her family and invested it, taking the attitude of nothing ventured, nothing gained. Her first market consisted of 30 stalls on the historic square in the middle of Oxford Castle. “I was so happy when we finished setting up the market for the very first time. It looked magical with all the beautiful Christmas decorations against the stunning backdrop of the castle.” It was a great start. The weekends went well and lots of visitors came to the market. But numbers dwindled during the week, as the castle is quite tucked away on the edge of the city centre. Over the next few years, Nicole Rahimi stepped up her marketing efforts, launched creative promotional campaigns and forged links with tour operators. However, after three years she was forced to realise that the location was just not right.

The Oxford Christmas market now draws visitors from far and wide. “The longest queue is always at the German bratwurst stall,” says Nicole Rahimi, with a grin. “There’ll be 48 stalls this year and a little carousel for the children.” Clubs and schools have also been invited to take part in a Christmas programme. Rahimi intends to get fully involved in putting up the decorations again in 2014. “It’s very important to me because I have my own ideas of how everything should look. It needs to look a little bit like the Christmas markets back home in Saxony.”