Liverpool-based The Festive Group specialises in creating Christmas installations and events for businesses and celebrity customers and is already being ‘overwhelmed’ with orders. Tony McDonough reports

Most of us may be melting in the August heatwave but one Liverpool business is already firmly focused on Christmas.

The Festive Group specialises in creating Christmas installations and events for businesses and celebrity customers and says it has received a record number of business enquiries compared to the same month in previous years.

It seems festive planning has become an early priority for clients of the Aintree-based firm, famed for its large-scale commercial and domestic Christmas installations, event dressing and theming services. In April it also turned its hand to making protective screens for businesses amid the coronavirus crisis.

Domestic clients are keen to ensure that a turbulent 2020 is rounded off with an extra special family Christmas and commercial clients are planning early for the festive seasons to boost retail sales and recoup some of the lost revenue

Head of operations at The Festive Group, Paul Lally, said: “We would normally see a surge in enquiries and bookings when people return from their holidays in September, but this year many of  our customers are staying at home and making earlier plans for an extra special Christmas following a very tough 2020.

“Family time has been reduced for large chunks of the year with lockdown restrictions and the necessity for shielding and our customers are telling us that they want Christmas 2020 to be ‘magical’ this year’.”

The company has decorated the homes of many celebrity clients over the years including Sharon Osborne, Dawn Ward, Gemma Collins, Caroline Stanbury, Trent Alexander Arnold, Andy Robertson and Danny Ings and Mo Salah.

Mr Lally added: “Many of our long-standing customers are definitely pulling out all of the stops this years and are planning bigger and more elaborate festive installations to see out 2020 and welcome 2021.”