Nickie’s Gott a lot to be pleased about

Feb 18 2008 by The Journal

THE small County Durham company which shocked the events world by winning a high profile festival contract in Edinburgh is celebrating a successful first year in charge.

She’s Gott It!, based just north of Durham city centre, won a contract from Edinburgh City Council to run the Winter Festival which attracts around 400,000 visitors from across Europe and beyond to Scotland’s capital – generating around £35m for the local economy.

Managing director Nickie Gott and her six strong team were hired for the contract ahead of established Edinburgh Festival Fringe producer Gilded Balloon.

And despite some tough Scottish press coverage initially, questioning whether a company the size of She’s Gott It! could cope with such a giant contract, Nickie has now received glowing praise from the local authority after her team’s first year in charge.

The Winter Festival runs for six weeks in the lead up to Christmas and involves market stalls, fairground rides, an ice rink, carol concerts and various other activities.

Ms Gott said: “We’ve just done a debrief on Edinburgh and we’ve had a hugely successful event.

“One of the things they recognised was that we were passionate about putting the finishing touches to it, to make everything look better aesthetically.

Nickie added: “Last year’s sales figures were incredibly good. We were up 50% on the previous year, and this coming year, we are aiming to be another 25% up.”