The sound of Jingle Bells is driving a Sussex MP Christmas crackers.

Norman Baker is angry that shops begin plugging the festive period earlier each year.

The Liberal Democrat, who represents Lewes, said he has already visited shops which are pumping out Christmas tunes over their sound system.

He said: "Anything which is overtly Christmassy and which is being played in October strikes me as intensely annoying. It's like playing surfing songs by the Beach Boys in the middle of January.

"Christmas is being spoilt by extending it. The thing about Christmas is it has become a commercial event. I do think playing Jingle Bells before Hallowe'en is a sad state of affairs.

"If I go into a shop before December 1 and it is playing Jingle Bells I'm going to walk out and boycott it."

Mr Baker said he went into a store in London a few days ago that was playing Jingle Bells.

He said the song rated among his pet hates for early Christmas songs, along with Slade's Merry Christmas Everyone and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.

The Lib Dem Environment spokesman said: "I haven't yet seen any Christmas trees in the shops but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

"Shopkeepers are trying to fleece people. It's not the songs themselves I object to, it's just the wrong time of year to play them.

"If any shops are playing Christmas music now I shall regard it as an attempt to extract money from me."

Mr Baker said December 1 should be the earliest date for festive songs in shops, with December 10 an ideal time to start.

"Christmas seems to get earlier every year. I'm just waiting for the day when it starts in January and we have a whole year of continuous festive preparation.

"I find it offensive and sad this special time of year can be so diminished in this way.

"The motivation is not to wish people a happy Christmas but to get money out of them."

Traders in Brighton had a mixed response to the comments. At Churchill Square in Brighton, Christmas starts in just over a week.

Manager Derek Maddison said the shopping centre would put up its Christmas decorations between November 10 and 12.

Although the shopping centre does not play background music, individual shops are expected to start blasting out festive tunes in the next couple of weeks.

Mr Maddison said: "People usually start Christmas shopping just after the October half term and are shopping in earnest the weekend after Bonfire Night.

"It does commercialise Christmas but we are in a commercial industry.

"The customers are out Christmas shopping and they dictate what we do. "We respond to customer demand."

Mr Maddison said his own Christmas turkey tune was Walking In the Air by Aled Jones. The Snowman was the theme Churchill Square adopted for Christmas a few years ago and the song was played in repetition.

He said: "After weeks of hearing Walking In The Air it wasn't my favourite song.

"When Christmas lasts six to eight weeks you don't want to hear any song which is played over and over again."

Peter Stocker, owner of the Workshop Pottery shop in Brighton, said he thought Mr Baker probably had a good point.

Mr Stocker, who is also secretary of North Laine Traders' Association, said: "I don't play any Christmas music at all in my shop. It's commercial hype.

"The North Laine is a bit funky and a bit different so I don't expect many shops to be playing a lot of Christmas tunes."

He said one of his least favourite festive tunes was Jingle Bells.

Wednesday November 05, 2003