He'll be wearing a mask, but Santa WILL be in his grotto in Doncaster this Christmas

Santa Claus IS coming to town – but he'll be wearing a mask when his grotto arrives in Doncaster this Christmas.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Frenchgate Shopping Centre has announced it will be bringing some much-needed festive cheer to children across the region with the opening of Santa’s Woodland Workshop in the Centre from this Thursday.

Bosses have decided to proceed with the much-loved annual Christmas Grotto and the team have worked hard to ensure it can operate in a Covid-secure manner.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Safety precautions include; everyone, even Santa, having to wear a face mask or covering inside the Grotto. No one will be able to enter the Grotto without a face covering unless they are legally exempt from doing so.

Santa and all his visitors will have to wear masks this Christmas, but his Doncaster grotto will still be in business.  (Photo: Getty).Santa and all his visitors will have to wear masks this Christmas, but his Doncaster grotto will still be in business.  (Photo: Getty).
Santa and all his visitors will have to wear masks this Christmas, but his Doncaster grotto will still be in business. (Photo: Getty).

Visitors will be able to prebook their visit to the Santa’s Woodland Workshop online or secure a booking on the day in Centre via a QR code, helping to safely manage the number of people as well as removing any likely queues.

Before anyone can enter the Grotto, which is located on the upper mall in front of Debenhams, sanitiser stations are available for handwashing. At all times customers will be kept at a socially safe distance from staff whilst visiting, all the while making sure the magic of every child’s experience in seeing Santa remains.

Assistant General Manager Karen Staniforth said; “It has been a tough year for everyone, especially for children who have had significant disruption to their everyday routines.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Many of them look forward to visiting Santa’s Grotto every year as an essential highlight of their Christmas.

“Our team have worked extremely hard to ensure this tradition at Frenchgate goes ahead this year and we have introduced a number of safety measures to ensure we are Covid safe.

“We are so happy that we’re able to offer a little bit of normality for children amongst the uncertainty of 2020 and allow Santa to sprinkle some of his Christmas magic.”

To prebook your visit to Santa’s Woodland Workshop at Frenchgate click HERE

Last week, it was revealed that the annual tour of Doncaster by Santa on his sleight has been cancelled because of Covid-19.