Pariah Carey: Shop bans modern Xmas tunes

THE Christmas songs aren’t yet in full flow in the nation’s high streets.

But as sure as Santa Claus is getting his reindeer ready, they will be here soon – and driving shoppers mad.

One store you could seek solace in, however, is the York Gin shop where the owners have put a ban on festive tunes recorded in the last 50 years. They say they will not be playing the likes of Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You or Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody as it would ruin Christmas for staff who have to endure the music for eight hours each day.

Emma Godivala, director of York Gin, claimed the move would also be welcomed by shoppers. She said her shop, a 16th century Tudor building in the heart of historic York, does not suit modern music.

She said: ‘We do love Christmas, but we want our gin shop to be a cheese-free zone. We’ve tested lots of songs to see which sound okay and which sound weird. And there’s a cut-off in the 1960s. Anything

after that has been banned. Our lovely team are happy with the decision – they say lots of other shop staff are already going stir crazy with the same Christmas hits being played.

‘That said, if Mariah appeared in the shop, we might just overturn the ban for a while and play All I Want For Christmas Is You.’ Instead the shop will play carols, seasonal ballets such as The Nutcracker and classics from Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

Shop manager Sandie TannerSmith said: ‘We’re confident we’ll have the happiest staff and customers around – our playlist is big enough to make sure no one hears the same Christmas song more than twice in a week.’