Top Hats at the Ready: Whalley's Pickwick Festival Returns!

King Street traders bring back the village's much loved Dickensian celebration, with a free family day out on Sunday 29 November

One of the Ribble Valley's best loved traditions is back. Seven years after the last Whalley Pickwick, the shopkeepers, innkeepers and restaurateurs of King Street have joined forces to bring it home, bigger than before and for the first time as a full day.

Pickwick Festival takes place on Sunday 29 November. King Street closes to traffic and the whole village steps back to 1837, the year Charles Dickens finished The Pickwick Papers, the book that made his name. It runs from noon until 9pm, entry is free, and it is built for families.

Many will remember the Whalley Pickwick. It began in 1988 as a late night shopping evening and grew into the night the whole village came out, drawing a crowd of 3,500 on a wet Thursday in 2015. It was last held in 2019 and, until now, nobody had picked it back up.

The revival is led by the businesses of King Street themselves, with Whalley based events company Crafty Vintage producing the day on their behalf. Crafty Vintage produces some of the North West's largest Christmas events, including the Darwen lights switch on, which draws crowds of more than 25,000.

Cllr John Atherton, whose family firm Athertons has traded on King Street for 65 years, said: "Ask anyone in Whalley about Pickwick and they'll tell you where they stood and what they wore. It was the night the whole village came together, and we've missed it. The businesses on King Street decided that if nobody else was going to bring it back, we would."

While Dickensian festivals across the country lean on Scrooge and A Christmas Carol, Whalley is the only one in Britain named after Mr Pickwick, and the organisers say the fit could not be better. King Street was a coaching road when Dickens was writing and The Swan a coaching inn where the stagecoaches changed horses. The Pickwick Papers is a book about a club of friends on the road, eating and drinking well and getting into scrapes in country inns. Whalley, the organisers point out, has been doing that for years.

And it will be done in the spirit of the book. Expect food, drink and merriment from noon until nine: hot punch, mulled drinks and roasted chestnuts on the street, the pubs, bars and restaurants of King Street open all day, and a live stage with music and entertainment through to the close. Bewley's Fun Fair is bringing a proper vintage fair with every ride turned by hand. And two local villains have been sentenced to the stocks on King Street, where the public will be invited to pelt them with fruit for charity. Their names, the organisers say, will be revealed in due course.

Dante Johnson of Crafty Vintage, who is producing the festival for the traders, said: "Everyone else does Scrooge. Whalley does Pickwick, and it's a far better story. Pickwick is about friends on the road, good food, a good pint and a bit of mischief, and that's the day we're building on King Street. Dig out the top hats and bonnets and come and join in. There's plenty more to announce over the next few weeks."

The festival's charity partner is East Lancashire Hospice. Money raised on the day will support the hospice's care for patients and families across East Lancashire.

A limited number of free ride passes for Bewley's Fun Fair are released at 7pm on Thursday 12 November through http://pickwickfestival.com/ in hourly slots. Further announcements on the programme, the villains and how to get there will follow in the coming weeks. King Street will be closed to traffic for the day and full travel details will be published nearer the time.

For updates visit  follow @pickwick_festival on Instagram or Pickwick Festival on Facebook.

ENDS

PICTURE CAPTION
King Street's innkeepers and shopkeepers get into character at The Dog Inn, Whalley, ahead of the return of Pickwick to the village. Cllr. John Atherton holds a copy of The Pickwick Papers