Shopping - Late Night Opening

From 5.30pm to 9.30pm tonight Lewes’ High Street will be closed from the Bottleneck to the end of Cliffe. Shoppers will be able to enjoy the late opening of most of the independent retailers in the town centre without having to fear for their lives as they, for example, scamper across from the Bow Windows Bookshop to Catlin’s. Other shops will also remain open in areas of Lewes which, sadly, will not be pedestrianised, including North Street and Lansdown Place. There will be mince pies and mulled wine at the Chalk Gallery and a book signing by masterchef Peter Bayless in the Riverside Centre. Proceeds donated go to SASBAH and the Lewes YMCA: the former will be selling Xmas cards at the precinct, the latter opening a crèche for kids. There are all sorts of special events going on in all sorts of shops, too many to mention here. Late night shopping in Lewes is a brilliant event, supporting the notion that shopping locally will help the local economy and pushing the idea that a pedestrianised town centre could indeed be possible if we went for it. We will be enjoying our time walking dead centre of the road, relishing the dropped levels of stress because cars aren’t pelting down the street at kill-you-if-they-hit-you speeds. And looking out for something just right to go under the tree, naturally. AG

We have been informed that the fireworks display that was scheduled to open the evening has been called off to respect the victims of the tragic fire near Ringmer at the weekend.