Kent’s biggest shopping centre is looking to install a Christmas grotto. Bluewater shopping centre has applied to Dartford council for permission to install the festive attraction and to keep its ice rink for another five years. Blueco, which owns the massive mall in Greenhithe has commissioned Quod planning consultants to get permission from the local authority.
If approved, the Christmas grotto attraction will be installed outside, near the ice rink. “The Christmas grotto comprises a single storey traditional style wooden building,” planning documents explain. “The structure will be erected from prefabricated cabins with metal framework and a weatherproof texture coated plywood.
“The grotto will sit on the Astroturf surface and contain three main rooms.” However, a Bluewater spokesperson confirmed the grotto will not be built and opened this year - but instead will open the following year if given the green light. This year they will instead host a Christmas grotto in one of the units in the shopping centre itself, which they are calling the “Elf on the Shelf Christmas adventure”.
The ice rink is already installed and is set to open from November 12 - January 5. But under these plans, the structure will stay in place until 2029, hosting the ice rink from October to January every year. Quod write that the ice rink marquee will also be used for “Beauty events, jobs fairs, the Dartford council awards and wedding fairs”.
Planning documents stress that the pr.
