Yahoo News York shop bans 'cheesy' Christmas songs to keep staff sane
A shop in York has banned Christmas songs for the sake of staff morale, its owners have said.
Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You or Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody will not be playing in the York Gin Shop in the lead up to this year's festive period.
Its owners said it would ruin Christmas for shop floor staff who have to endure the music for eight hours a day.
Emma Godivala, director of York Gin, also claimed the move would be welcomed by shoppers who are subjected to a constant playlist of festive hits from mid-November.
Most high street shops have the Christmas decorations up and the festive songs playing long before December 25.
Ms Godivala also said her store, a 16th century Tudor building in the heart of historic York, does not suit modern music.
She said: "We do love Christmas, but we want our gin shop to be a cheese-free zone.
"We've tested lots of songs to see which sound OK and which sound weird. And there's a cut-off in the 1960s. Anything after that has been banned.
"Our lovely team are happy with the decision - they say lots of other shop staff are already going stir crazy with the same Christmas hits being played on a loop.
"That said, if Mariah appeared in the shop, we might just overturn the ban for a while and play All I Want For Christmas Is You."
Instead the shop will play Christmas carols, seasonal ballets such as The Nutcracker and classics from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
Shop manager Sandie Tanner-Smith said: "We're confident we'll have the happiest staff and customers around - our playlist is big enough to make sure no-one hears the same Christmas song more than twice in a week."
