Late-night Christmas shopping on Columbia Road in Bethnal Green has returned to normal now that the Wednesday evening carol services were cancelled after going viral on TikTok, leading to a crush.
Last Wednesday, 7,000 people attended the once-small carol services, packing tightly into the East London street, causing a public safety hazard and the remaining concerts this year to be cancelled.
With the message broadcasted far and wide across social media, last night’s shopping was much safer with less than 5% of the numbers attending, and police officers (counter-terrorism, plain clothed and regular), and safety stewards keeping an eye on crowding.
Angus Girvan, the supervisor in charge of safety at the event, said: “The first Wednesday was busy, last Wednesday was just mental.
“No one was spending any money, it was just TikTokers.
“All you could see was a sea of phones.”
Girvan, whose partner runs a shop on the road, said that the festivites were looked after by 12 stewards but that they did not have the capacity to deal with such an influx.
He said: “It was all very good natured, it is just hard to tell anyone what to do.”
Luckily no one was injured in the crush, though Girvan said hundreds of electric-battery rental bikes were left at the top of the road, making it more difficult to get out.
Whilst the traditional carol concerts have been cancelled for the rest of the year, late night shopping will still run next week from 5pm to 9pm.
The decision was made jointly by the Columbia Road traders, the police and the local Tower Hamlets council.
In a statement announcing the cancellation, Rev Heather Atkinson, vicar of St Peter’s Bethnal Green, said: “The crowds of over 7,000 present last week were of such volume on the road that there was a danger to public safety.
“We are grateful to God and to those working at the event that there were no serious injuries.”
Speaking with the BBC, Rev Atkinson said she hoped the concerts would be able to return in the future in a safer, controlled manner.
Maddie, 27, who lives in the area and tried to attend the concerts last week said it was insanely busy and she could not get to the service.
Her friend who did manage to join couldn’t even hear the choir singing.
Maddie said: “You can hear people whispering all about it on the street tonight”.
Grant Stanners, a shopkeeper at The Red Mud Hut, said it was manic, with people having panic attacks and jumping fences to try to get away from the crowds.
Describing last week, he said “It wasn’t a good atmosphere, it suddenly turned sour.”
“The crowd was all the way along, as far as the eye could see people were squashed.”
Another shopkeeper, who does not wish to be named, said that the scenes were reminiscent of the Hillsborough disaster and that she had concert goers pleading to exit through the back of her shop, which unfortunately only lead onto more housing.
Many shopkeepers closed their businesses and put the shutters down out of fear of the glass storefronts caving in.
The event went viral on TikTok last year and earlier this month, with videos promoting the festivities as a fun night out racking up tens of thousands of likes and many more views.
In Atkinson’s statement, she said: “Some have chosen to debate the impact of ‘TikTok Tourism’ this week.
To the TikTok community we say thank you for sharing good news.
If the draw for you was to join in with something bigger than yourself, or to discover the power and joy of Christmas, then keep seeking the Christ in our carols.”
Girvin’s view differs.
He said: “Social media is what killed it.
“They didn’t give a s**t about anything apart from getting their social media post.”
Other media figures have complained about the trend of once-local events becoming swamped once they go viral on social media platform to millions of viewers.
Watch below for a video of the crowd last week, taken by Stanners, who had to close the wooden standing bar outside his shop for fear of injury.
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