ORGANISERS of Winchester's famous Christmas market have said there will be no ice rink at this year's event, which draws in more than 400,000 from across the world every festive season.

The decision has been made as part of Covid measures implemented to allow for increased social distancing at the normally compact market, held in the city cathedral's Inner Close.

On the Cathedral's website, organisers wrote: "To allow for increased space and wider walkways, the Ice Rink has been replaced with a stage, which will host a variety of exciting, free performances throughout the duration of the Christmas market."

They added that although there won't be any timed-entry nor tickets, "both the entrance and exit will be carefully controlled to manage numbers", with queues likely.

As well as this, the Christmas Market will be spread over a wider area within the Cathedral grounds to "allow plenty of room for social distancing".

The market kicks off on November 19, and will run to December 22.

Southampton's Christmas Market starts on November 18.