Mary Portas will bring her retail expertise to Tetbury this month when she judges the town’s Best Dressed Window competition, with more than two dozen independent shops preparing displays inspired by the Tetbury Music Festival.
The retail expert, broadcaster and author will visit the town on Thursday, September 24. She is expected to walk around Tetbury between 4pm and 5.30pm to view the entries before crowning the 2026 winner.
Windows inspired by music
The competition will run from Monday, September 21, to Sunday, October 4. Participating businesses have been asked to create striking and imaginative displays reflecting the spirit of the festival and its musical programme.
The initiative is led by Festival Director Caz Weller Knight. As well as encouraging visitors into Tetbury and showcasing the festival, it aims to raise additional funds for St Mary’s Primary School to support its music programme.
Among the businesses taking part are Hobbs House Bakery, Constantine Rex, Trove, Break, French Grey, Haine & Smith, Scentiments, Skeins of Tetbury, Tetbury Wines, Matthews Independent Funeral Directors, Taylor Black and Longfield.
Portas is known for presenting the BBC series Mary Queen of Shops and for authoring the Government-commissioned Portas Review into the future of the high street. She follows previous competition judges including interior designer and television personality Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen in 2024 and fashion accessories designer Lulu Guinness OBE in 2025.
“The art of window display has always been one of the most exciting parts of retail. We can look back through history and see artists such as Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí designing windows in New York. It was always seen as something exciting — something that gave character not only to the shops themselves, but to the towns and communities around them.”
Portas said Tetbury’s independent businesses had embraced the creative side of window displays and that she was looking forward to seeing the entries.
“Tetbury is full of wonderful independent shops, and it’s clear that they really embrace the creativity and artistry of creating great window displays that surprise, excite and delight. I’m very much looking forward to being part of the judging and seeing what they come up with.”
Tetbury Music Festival programme
The Best Dressed Window competition is being held alongside the 2026 Tetbury Music Festival, which opens on September 26 at Tetbury Goods Shed Arts Centre. Ensemble Oblique will perform a staged production of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale twice in one evening.
The programme continues on October 1 with violinist Viktoria Mullova and Alasdair Beatson performing Beethoven’s Sonatas 3, 2 and the Kreutzer on gut strings and fortepiano. Earlier that afternoon, Michele Pasotti will appear in conversation with Donald Macleod.
On October 2, Italian ensemble La Fonte Musica will return with La Sera del Combattimento, Pasotti’s reconstruction of the first performance of Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, given in Venice in 1624.
The festival’s central Saturday will feature Sir Nicholas Kenyon discussing Elgar and the Spirit of England, followed by the Eusebius Quartet performing works by Schubert, Elgar, Bridge and Fauré.
The festival will close on October 4 with a Festival Eucharist sung by Gloucester Cathedral’s Saint Cecilia Singers. The Gesualdo Six will then make their Tetbury debut with Lux Aeterna.
Many concerts are scheduled to take place by candlelight inside Tetbury’s historic St Mary’s Church, the festival’s principal venue. The church’s Georgian Gothic interior, suspended candelabra and acoustics have also attracted BBC Radio 3, which has recorded numerous concerts there.
The festival is supported by its Patron, His Majesty King Charles III. The event’s connection with the town also extends to nearby Highgrove, the King’s Cotswolds residence.