Barriers in place at city’s market
VISITORS to Newcastle’s Christmas Market may have noticed large bollards have been installed around it.
Newcastle City Council has placed the barriers at Grey’s Monument as it takes action to protect shoppers and traders during the festive season.
The bollards, which have also appeared along the city’s Quayside, have been called “safety barriers” by the council, who confirmed they have been put in place as a “precautionary measure.”
The heavy-set barriers allow people through but cut off access from vehicles in an effort to protect crowds from the threat of vehicles being used as a weapon.
A Newcastle City Council spokesman said: “In line with other cities around the UK, we have installed safety barriers around the Christmas Market and on the Quayside for our New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration and Quayside Market.
“They have been put up purely as a precautionary measure so everyone who visits can safely enjoy the Christmas festivities in the city.”
It comes after the UK national threat level was raised to “severe” by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre last month following two terrorist incidents in Essex and Liverpool.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “It is important the public remains alert to the threat from terrorism but not alarmed.”
She continued: “Threat levels are determined independently of Ministers and are a tool for security practitioners, including the police, to use in determining what protective security response may be required.”
Newcastle’s Christmas Market has proved as popular as ever with shoppers after last year’s event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
The ‘Winter Wonderland‘ themed event features 30 wooden cabins housing local traders as well as a striking ‘grilling station’ tower complete with nativity figures on Grainger Street.
Unlike in 2019, when the event was run by the Nottingham-based Mellor Group, the stalls do not stretch on to Northumberland Street and there are no fairground rides.
This is because the five-year contract between the market operator and Newcastle council was torn up in September as a result of ongoing concerns about the pandemic.
Meanwhile, council bosses have promised two New Year’s Eve firework displays will go ahead on the city’s Quayside on December 31.