WORCESTER’S Victorian Christmas Fayre has become one of the city’s biggest visitor attractions in recent years. Now in its 17th year, the event is recognised as the biggest and best themed street market in the Midlands.

It attracts coach loads of visitors, particularly from South Wales, and last year attendances topped 100,000.

Organisers VisitWorcester say coach bookings for this year’s fair, which started last night and runs until Sunday, are up on last year. That is great news for the city in the middle of a recession.

The hundreds of stalls that line New Street, Charles Street, Friar Street, Pump Street and parts of the High Street bring a fantastic atmosphere to the city centre.

A full list of stalls can be found in today’s Worcester News in print and online.

The fair is an event of which all of Worcester can be proud.

It puts the city firmly in the spotlight for a few days for all the right reasons and kicks off the festive season in fine style.

We hope the weather is kind to the fair over the weekend.

We hope the tens of thousands of regular visitors to the event keep coming back year after year.

But most of all we hope the many people visiting our city for the first time are impressed by what they see and feel encouraged to spend more time in Worcester in the future.