Christmas shoppers flocked to Bradford at the weekend, but some say poor choice means they have to go outside the city for presents.

Shoppers who spoke to the Telegraph & Argus on Saturday said they were trying to budget more this year, and were dividing their shopping between online buying and high street shops.

Many of the big name shops in the city have not released their sales figures in the run up to Christmas, but the town’s Kirkgate Centre has seen an increase in shoppers, thanks to various festive events, such as a reindeer parade on Sunday, November 18. The shops in the centre have been open late each Thursday since mid-November.

Centre manager Catherine Riley said: “The amount of people who turned up to the reindeer parade was 38 per cent higher than other years.

“We added City Park to the route so it gave people an even better chance to see it.

“Santa’s Grotto always has a queue. It keeps getting busier the closer it gets to Christmas.

“It is hard to compare to other years, because Christmas has been getting later in terms of when people do their shopping. We expect this weekend to be very busy.

“Over the last few years Bradford seems to have been doing better than the national trend in terms of footfall. I think some of it is because people prefer to stay closer to home.”

She said offers like free gift wrapping and Santa Claus helped attract visitors.

Gideon Seymour, is manager at Hand Made In Bradford, a store on Tyrell Street that sells arts and craft products produced by local people.

The shop opened in the former Zavvi building in March.

Mr Seymour said: “Since October business has really picked up.

“A lot of what we sell are ideal for gifts, so takings have doubled since October. I think a lot of people come here because of the absence of independent retailers elsewhere, and they want to support them.”

Although many shops have opened later in the past few weeks, others, such as Waterstones, are saving late-openings until later this week. The company said it based this on “anticipated customer demand”.

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