READING is ready to get into the festive spirit … new research has discovered that the Ding is top of the towns preparing for December 25.
Home improvements retailer B&Q says that searches for Christmas trees has soared across the past month.
And just as Santa has to decide whether children have been naughty or nice throughout the year, Ding residents are having to determine whether to have a real tree or a fake one.
B&Q analysed a number of towns and cities across the country, checking to see where the digital traffic was coming from for its festive section on its website.
And the number crunchers found Reading is the town that is preparing earliest for Christmas, with a 735% increase in searches.
The DIY chain, with a branch in the shadow of the Select Car Leasing Stadium, says this means the borough is the most eager to get started on the festive decor.
And Reading’s eco-friendly credentials are to the fore, as last year two-thirds of the Christmas trees B&Q sold were artificial, meaning they can be reused year after year after year – extra brownie points with Santa.
B&Q said that most of the 13 towns and cities on the list, which didn’t include Milton Keynes, favoured the fake firs over real ones, saying that artificial Christmas trees have a number of benefits including durability and reusability and lack of maintenance, such as not needing watering or having to vacuum pine needles.
Only Leeds and Sheffield bought more real trees over fakes, while Bristol was evenly split 50/50.
The home improvement retailer says the trend they predict will be top of the trees will be prelit ones, meaning the end of trying to figure out which bulb in the string of lights has blown.
A B&Q spokesperson told Reading Today: “We can’t wait to help towns and cities across the nation get ready for Christmas.
“We have a huge range of products from 7ft Christmas trees to intricate festive decor, helping the residents of Reading get into the Christmas spirit and their homes prepared for the best time of year.”
We contacted Santa for his views, but he was too busy in his toy-making workshop to speak. When asked if we were on the good list, his Elf spokesperson said: “No comment”.
