Shops across the city centre will be staying open until 8pm as part of the event to help people find the perfect gifts in the lead-up to Christmas.

The initiative, led by Coventry Business Improvement District (BID), kicks off from Wednesday, November 20 and will run every Wednesday until December 18.

The Festival of Christmas, organised by Coventry City Council, will be launching on the first evening of late-night shopping, with a trail of festive locations around the city centre from 4pm to 9pm.

A live DJ will be playing in the Upper Precinct throughout all the late-night shopping evenings and joined by a range of activities across different evenings.

Singing Santa and Selfie Elfie Station will be in the city on November 27, before the Grinch and Christmas fairy pay a visit to Coventry on December 4 and six-strong vocal group The Vintage Belles will be performing on December 11.

Late night shopping will come to a close on December 18 with Santa and his elves roaming around the city centre.

Free parking will be available for every Wednesday late night shopping event at Coventry City Council run car parks when entering after 3pm.

A wide range of shops across the city centre, including in Lower Precinct and West Orchards Shopping Centre, will be participating in the late-night shopping event – with major retailers and independent stores all set to get into the festive spirt.

CV1 Menswear opened for business six months ago in West Orchards and owner Marc Barrett has says he is looking to meeting new customers through late night shopping.

He said: “We’re hoping this is going to encourage more people into the city centre and get them to explore new businesses like ours. We’re planning to make it a real event in the shop, with DJs and discounts to enhance the shopping experience. The Christmas period will be very important for our business.”

Mark Burgess, Retail Manager at JD Sports, added: “I’m a big advocate of late-night shopping in the city centre as it enables us to provide additional flexibility for our customers at the busiest time of the year, rather than relying on out-of-town retail parks. This allows us to retain our valued shoppers in the city centre all year round.”

Coventry BID works with its levy payers to make the city centre a vibrant and safe place to live, visit and work.

Joanne Glover, Chief Executive of Coventry BID, added: “There was a clear desire from businesses in the city to bring back late-night shopping this year, but make it bigger and better than before with live entertainment and other activities.

“There’s always something quite magical about evening shopping in the lead-up to Christmas, the city centre is going to be a really special place to be and we hope that people will come out and shop local this festive period.”

To find out more about late night shopping and Christmas in Coventry City Centre visit www.coventrycitycentre.co.uk/christmas/

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PICTURE CAPTION: From left to right – Nic Demagalski (Lower Precinct), Kavita Chauhan (Coventry BID), Shannon Salter (Sostrene Grene) and Natasha Derry (Sostrene Grene) preparing for Late Night Shopping in Lower Precinct.