Easter may be only weeks away, but one corner of London is still bathed in the festive glow of Christmas.
The £70,000 display by Pimlico Plumbers featuring snowmen, Christmas trees and reindeer is shining down on the streets around its HQ in Sail Street, Lambeth, more than a month after Twelfth Night.
It was switched on by DJ Lisa Snowdon on November 20, and has continued ever since — to the annoyance of some locals.
Dwain Coleman, 40, who works at a food stall at Borough Market, said: “Christmas has been and gone, the New Year has been and gone, that’s it now. Londoners can only tolerate a limited amount of cheerfulness and this is just taking the biscuit.”
Emma Thorpe, 28, who works in IT in Cannon Street said: “It’s pretty ridiculous. Christmas seems to start before Halloween and now we’re approaching spring... it’s just too much.
"I’m not a fan of Christmas anyway and just thank God my flat window doesn’t face this.” David Lewis, 68, a retired black cab driver said: “For a business like this to still have flashing lights, Christmas trees and snow still up, is a bit childish.”
Charlie Mullins, who founded Pimlico Plumbers in a basement in 1979 and now has 270 staff and a £24 million turnover, hit back at critics, saying the display was “too nice to take down”.
Mr Mullins, 59, added: “For many people it cheers up their train journey to work. Even now people are taking their children round to show them the lights. They brighten up a miserable time of year. I reckon they’re better than the Oxford Street lights personally. Obviously you get a few miserable people who don’t like them.”
He said that work had started to remove the display, with the last lights coming down by the end of the month. He added: “It costs so much and takes so long to put them up I was considering leaving them up all year.”
