Snow Queen and polar bear display at Loft and Spires take the window crown in Our Bury St Edmunds competition

The Snow Queen and a polar bear have won the hearts of Bury St Edmunds shoppers this Christmas who’ve voted a home and gift shop as winner of the town’s annual most festive shop window prize.

Users of the Our Bury St Edmunds LoyalFree app chose LOFT & SPIRES at 61 Cornhill as this year’s winner with runners up awards going to Baileys 2 Bistro and Hayward Moon property lawyers, both in Whiting Street.

The winning window had been planned since February when the five staff at Loft and Spires started developing ideas for how to excite children at Christmas and add light and sparkle to darker winter days, work on the display started in the summer.

"This has been a team effort but Lizzy and Alice worked especially hard on the castle and the Snow Queen’s dress, hair and make-up.

"Our polar bear was made from recycled packaging received in the shop including paper, cardboard and bubble wrap and the sleigh was from a previous window but given a complete makeover for this year.

"This window has been one of the hardest and most time consuming the team has embarked on but recycling and upcycling has made it the most satisfying to make. I am so thrilled for the team that shoppers and visitors to the town have voted it the winner and thank everyone who took the time to do so," said Romy Abraham who owns the shop.

The long-running competition for shops and businesses is organised by the Business Improvement District (BID) organisation Our Bury St Edmunds.

The window display was viewed in the LoyalFree app around 500 times during the two weeks that voting was open.

The two runners up for the title were Javelin and Buy The Light.

"The Loft and Spires staff are so creative with their Christmas designs and this window is a joy to look at – but the standard has been extremely high across the whole town again and we appreciate the efforts of all our businesses to try to bring some festive cheer to the town centre at the end of another very challenging year,” said Mike Kirkham from the BID.

Loft and Spires, has now won the annual competition for four of the last five years, will hold the Our Bury St Edmunds Shield for the next 12 months.