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What Is The Theme For This Years Fenwick Christmas Window

What is the theme for this year’s Fenwick Christmas Window?

Post date: 20 October 2020

Author: Hannah Lambert

Christmas in Newcastle would not be the same without a visit to Fenwick’s Christmas Window which is a much-loved part of a long-standing Geordie Christmas tradition. The queue to wander past Fenwick’s Christmas display always snakes with great anticipation along Northumberland Street in the heart of Newcastle city centre. Each year, typically in early November, the Fenwick Christmas Window is revealed and each year, thousands of festive shoppers and families on a day out in Newcastle clamour to see what the new Christmas window theme will be.

Fenwick's Christmas window 2020 is based on classic children's book The Wind in the Willows! The stunning festive display sees Mr Toad up to his usual tricks as he tries to run off with Santa's sack of Christmas presents. See the new Fenwick Newcastle Christmas Window here.

The fabulous display was revealed as part of a live stream on Fenwick Newcastle's Facebook page on Sunday 8 November. Perhaps not the live, in-person event of previous years, but for many in the North East and all across the UK as well as some international viewers, Fenwick still brought the joy of festive magic and Christmas sparkle while we were in lockdown.

Visitors will be able to view this year's Fenwick Newcastle Christmas window in person seven days a week between 9am and 8pm. There will be careful restrictions in place to ensure visitors and staff are kept safe and social distancing is maintained. Visit Fenwick Newcastle's website here for all the details on how to safely visit Fenwick Window in person.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Fenwick Christmas Window 2019 Newcastle

Over nearly 50 years of Fenwick's Christmas Windows, there have been many different festive (and surprisingly unfestive) themes as well as some rather unusual stories told across the famous department store’s front window.

Last year's Fenwick's Christmas Window was all about classic children's book Charlie and The Chocolate Factory! Each scene along the stretch of the shopfront told a different part of the story and included much-loved characters including Willy Wonka and Charlie himself created in the iconic style of illustrator Quentin Blake. This was the first time that the popular Roald Dahl classic had featured in the annual display. However, other classic children’s book characters have regularly starred in the shopfront showcase making it a popular source of inspiration for the window.

Let's take a look back at the last few years of the Fenwick's Christmas Window.

Which year was your favourite Fenwick Christmas Window display?

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs Fenwick Christmas Window Newcastle 2018

What will be the theme of this year’s Christmas Window... Classic children's book character?

We now know that the 2020 Fenwick window is dedicated to Ratty, Mole and Mr Toad from the classic children's book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame which just shows how popular this theme is! This is a real possibility.

Since the 1970s when the Fenwick Christmas Window first began, there have been many famous book characters pop-up – including Charlie Bucket in 2019 as we have already mentioned.

Alice in Wonderland has graced the Christmas Window a whopping three times with her first appearance in 1981; a repeat visit just over a decade later in 1993 and then most recently in 2014.

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs (pictured) has also had a couple of spotlight moments with the famous children’s book character forming the focus of the Fenwick Christmas Window in 2005 and then again in 2018.

Paddington Bear, Beatrix Potter’s much-loved menagerie of characters and Rupert the Bear have also told their story across the Fenwick’s window.

... a little left field?

Perhaps slightly less festive were the years when Pinocchio, Oliver Twist, Gulliver (twice – 1984 and 2006), Sooty and the (now infamous) Aliens took centre stage in the Fenwick Christmas Window.

... Christmas vibes?

There have been years with a panto vibe (Aladdin in 1975, Peter Pan in 1999 and Wonderful World of Pantomime in 1979). The Big Man is also no stranger to the Fenwick Newcastle Christmas Window with Father Christmas being a popular feature of the display over the last half a century.