01 Jul 2025
Who would have thought that the hottest place in town on a Friday night would have been a shopping centre?
But there was no disputing the fact that The Maltings Summer Sounds was one of the highlights of the city calendar so far this year.
Thousands of people came over the course of the evening to enjoy live music by Brilliant Theatre Arts, Grace George, Flabba, and Dirty Stereo.
They tucked into food by local vendors including Chicken George, Infuse Modern Indian Bistro, Waffle Wands and Peddling Pizza and cooled down with drinks from the Youth Talk Prosecco bar, Black Bridge Distillery, The 3 Brewers of St Albans, Bunkum Rum and Fade to Black.
In celebration of Pride Month, the evening was hosted by the iconic drag queen Fiona Flange.
Retailers pulled out all the stops with special offers, goodie bags and vouchers.
Theresa Kennedy, owner of Up We Pop hosted a Spin to Win event where guests spun the wheel for a goodie bag and glass of Prosecco. She raised a total of £600, with all funds raised going to local charity Donna’s Rescue Dogs.
Simon Cox, manager of Clipso hair salon, said the event had “a great atmosphere and party vibe”.
He added: “The Clipso St Albans team sincerely hopes that this will be the first of many more to come.”
The Youth Talk prosecco bar, sponsored by The Maltings, helped raise funds and awareness for the local mental health charity.
Jim Lewis of Youth Talk said: “What an amazing evening at The Maltings Summer Sounds! We were so grateful to be invited and to have our Prosecco Bar sponsored. Thanks to everyone’s incredible support, we raised nearly £700 – that’s another 14 counselling sessions we can now offer to young people in St Albans.”
Centre manager Richard Marrett explained why they decided to hold the event: “We are very proud of the retail offering at The Maltings and created Summer Sounds to
showcase our amazing independent and brand name stores.
“The Maltings plays an active role in the community of St Albans, encompassing a substantial proportion of St Albans city centre, which we are very proud of.
“Summer Sounds was organised to embrace and unite the community, retailers, residents and local businesses. Summer is a key trading season, and we wanted to showcase the amazing products and services our retailers provide and remind people to shop in-store and support local businesses.”
One of the obvious things about Summer Sounds was the very diverse mix of businesses, artists, traders and visitors on the night – something which is very important to the centre.
“Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of everything we do at The Maltings, not just during special events like Summer Sounds, but in our everyday operations. St Albans is a wonderfully multicultural city, and we are proud to reflect and support that spirit within our centre. Summer Sounds was all about showcasing our vibrant retail community, uplifting local businesses, and creating an inclusive space for people to come together.”
Crucially, Summer Sounds was an entirely independent event, not associated with the district council or St Albans BID, although it did of course have their full support.
“Summer Sounds was organised by The Maltings as a standalone event for the retailers within the centre and not a replacement for any events that have recently been cancelled elsewhere in the city centre.
“The Maltings is a private entity, and whilst we are proud of our relationship with St Albans council, as a business we are wholly separated from them. We welcome the events designed to drive footfall to the city centre and encourage St Albans council and St Albans BID to continue and increase community-focused events.”
Having worked in the hospitality industry for over 20 years prior to joining The Maltings, over half of which was in St Albans, Richard has built great relationships with local food and drink traders from St Albans and the surrounding area, which helped to ensure a wide selection of outlets.
“The stalls at Summer Sounds included a diverse mix of regular market traders and local businesses, with the furthest away being only 9.5 miles from The Maltings. We also supported one of our charities, Youth Talk, to have a stall to raise funds to support their essential work providing free counselling services to young people in St Albans.
“Due to the astounding success of Summer Sounds, this will become an annual event, and we are already planning a Christmas event. For future events, we will welcome applications from all traders to come and attend.”
What feedback has he received since Friday? “We have had so many positive comments on how the event was run, the music, the support for local charities from local residents, visitors, traders on the evening and most importantly, our shops within The Maltings, with an overwhelming number of requests to repeat it every year. The success of Summer Sounds was a true reflection of the incredible collaboration between our retailers, local businesses, and The Maltings team.
“As our first big event, Summer Sounds was a valuable learning experience. We’ve heard the feedback about advertising and really appreciate people taking the time to share their thoughts.
“Next time, we’ll be looking to increase visibility with more posters around the centre, and we’d also love for people to follow us on social media to stay in the loop with future events, retailer news, and special offers.
“In the meantime, we will continue to support the shops of The Maltings, build on the local community spirit that we embrace within the city centre and look forward to welcoming all our visitors in the future.”
Photos by Craig Shepheard, PR4, 1 Sec Stop, Jason and Karen Jennings
