Crowds throng to York Christmas Market and UK Snooker

Tens of thousands of families, groups of young people and older people crammed into the city centre as they visited York’s Christmas Market.

Adding to the crowds, thousands of snooker fans flocked to the York Barbican for the opening day of the UK Snooker Championship, and the stores were bursting with shoppers busy hunting for Black Friday weekend bargains.

Shoppers seeking more room at Monks Cross and Vangarde Shopping Park had to jostle with thousands of football fans as York City FC were playing at home and thrashing Aldershot Town 5-1.

The wet weather, which deteriorated during the day, didn’t seem to have had much effect on the city centre crowds, with the majority of people from outside the city having booked their accommodation in advance, in some cases months before today.

Coach companies started taking bookings for trips to this year’s Christmas Market a year ago.

Hotels across the city reported they were almost full, with what rooms there were available costing upwards of £250 per person per night.  Some AirBnB accommodation was available.

Everyone had to cope with increasingly heavy rain as the day wore on, soaking the crowds and creating huge puddles.

“This is mental,” said one father as he and his family struggled to make their way through the crowds on Parliament Street.

One bus driver apologised to his passengers as they waited – and waited – in the standstill traffic jams on the southern Inner Ring Road. “It’s been gridlocked all day,” he said.

By mid-afternoon the huge puddles were increasing the congestion as people tried to avoid them only to find there was no room to do so and they had a choice of getting their feet wet or somehow squeezing through the crowds.

Stalls selling hot drinks and hot food did a roaring trade with long queues. Umbrellas were everywhere making moving around the shopping area even more difficult.

By 4pm, some shoppers were giving up and heading back towards the railway station.

But many more were heading indoors into the pubs, bars and restaurants, which were rammed full of people.