Shops / Sponsored Feature
Bristol Shopping Quarter lights up Christmas
Visitors to Bristol Shopping Quarter this festive season can’t help but notice the gigantic Christmas tree that forms a centrepiece for the ever-popular German Christmas Market, which opened on Friday, November 6 and runs until Tuesday, December 22.
The magnificent tree, which stands almost 50 metres high, has been a year in the planning – from the initial drawings through to engineering calculations, design and construction – which took three days and four nights.
The tree is unique, the only transportable tree of its size (others are taller, but they can’t be moved), and its design has been patented so that it can’t be copied by anybody else. It’s 10 metres in diameter and weighs almost 80 tonnes. It took 10 trucks to bring the tree from Germany to Bristol and one very large crane to install it on The Podium in Broadmead where it sits atop a restaurant seating 55 people and a grill.
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Topped by a rotating star, the Christmas tree is particularly beautiful at night when it is illuminated by four million LED lights. In fact, all the lights in the German Christmas Market have been changed to LEDs, an energy-saving exercise that has allowed the market operators to light the tree without using any more electricity than in previous years.
The German Christmas Market is complemented by the Bristol Local Christmas market, open outside M&S in Broadmead from December 4-22, which sells gifts and produce from local and Fairtrade traders, and visitors also have 500 shops to explore including designer brands, high street names, and friendly independents.
This month Bristol24/7 have also teamed up with Bristol Shopping Quarter to offer readers the chance to win an £100 voucher to spend in a shop of your choice in Broadmead, The Galleries, St James Arcade and Cabot Circus.
To enter: Take a photo of the giant tree at the German Christmas Market in Broadmead, upload it to Instagram using the hashtag #GermanMarketTree and follow both @bristolshopping and @bristol247 on Instagram. Enter by midday on Friday, December 18. Entrants must be over 18.