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Brum gets world's biggest calendar
Nov 16 2001
Coca-Cola is to unveil what it says is the world's largest Advent calendar in Birmingham in the run-up to Christmas.
The giant calendar will hang from scaffolding on the Grade I-listed Town Hall in Victoria Square, from the end of November.
Planners at Birmingham City Council gave approval for the 24-door festive feature at a meeting yesterday.
Andrew Coker, of Coca-Cola, said plans for the exact format of the decoration were still being formalised but it would be in the time-honoured Advent calendar style.
"It going to be very traditional, very seasonal and the biggest in the entire world," he said.
The calendar will be kept under wraps until November 30 then unveiled on December 1, with doors being opened in special ceremonies each day until Christmas Eve, he added.
A Birmingham City Council spokeswoman said the local authority hoped it would be another boost to Christmas shopping in the city.
"It is something to woo the shoppers back to the city centre and make it a good place to visit with more interest," she said.
Birmingham is also planning to host a German market with traders coming from one of its sister cities, Frankfurt. Its Christmas lights have already been switched on.
Work to build the Town Hall, which is currently undergoing a multi-million pound refurbishment, started in 1832 and its design is modelled on the temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome.
It has previously seen the first performances of Mendelssohn's Elijah and Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius to concerts by Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
Coca-Cola's links with Christmas date to the 1930s when a graphic designer, Haddon Sundblom, depicted Santa Claus in his now familiar red and white costume.
