IT’S beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Darlington, as a town centre programme of festive events and activities is launched.

Colourful Christmas characters were in the Cornmill Shopping Centre on Tuesday (November 18), to launch an events brochure and promote a dedicated website page detailing upcoming events.

A festive version of the popular Little Book of Offers has been produced to give shoppers a helping hand to make their Christmas budgets stretch further.

The free pocket-size booklet features offers from a range of town centre retailers and includes discounts and deals on gifts, food, clothes, beauty treatments and more, while the Christmas brochure details the main festive events including the Christmas lights switch on ceremony on November 27 and the reindeer parade on November 30.

The brochure and offers book are available at many venues including the Indoor Market, Dolphin Centre, Darlington libraries and Cornmill and Queen Street shopping centres, among others.

Councillor Chris McEwan, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for economy and regeneration, said: “Our full range of Christmas events, many of which are free, will help to take the stress out of Christmas and inject fun into the festivities.

Alex Hirst, manager of Distinct Darlington, said: “We’ve worked with town centre businesses to put together an exciting range of exclusive offers to boost the budgets of shoppers and help them to see that Darlington means great choice and value for money when it comes to Christmas.”

Mrs Hirst added that the last Little Book of Offers was the most successful yet, generating almost £13,000 for the businesses that were featured.