Great Yarmouth's most iconic buildings light up for festive period

The council will once again switch on the lighting on the Town Hall, St George's Theatre, the Tolhouse, the Minster Church of St Nicholas, the Arc Cinema at the Royalty, the North West Tower and Gorleston Pavilion.

The collection includes five listed buildings and a scheduled monument, with all the buildings representing a special place in the town's history and cultural life.

The lighting has been used to highlight various local and national issues since its installation. In April 2020, the Town Hall bathed in blue light to praise key workers on the coronavirus frontline and in February 2022, the buildings were lit up mauve and green to highlight the needs and care of people living with a rare disease.

Now, as Christmas fast approaches, the buildings will get a festive overhaul. The buildings will see patterns such as Father Christmas, reindeers, snowmen, Christmas trees, baubles and more.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council leader Carl Smith said: "This lighting has helped highlight some very important issues since their arrival, as well as showing off some of the buildings that have played the biggest parts in the town's history.

"Now it's a chance to use the lighting for something a bit more fun and festive, which I'm sure all of our residents and visitors will enjoy seeing."

Alex Young, Trustee at Gorleston Pavilion Theatre, said: "We are incredibly lucky to have such a rich heritage in the borough and it has been fantastic to be able to celebrate this by lighting up our much loved Pavilion Theatre alongside all of the other truly iconic landmarks in the area. It makes the dark nights just that little more colourful!"

The project is being supported by the government's Town Fund, as part of the See Great Yarmouth In A Different Light project. In Winter 2020, the project supported decorative new lighting in Great Yarmouth, Gorleston and Hemsby.