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Thames Town was built as part of a development to ease overpopulation in Shanghai and was designed to look like a British village complete with cobbled streets, red phone boxes and Victorian terraces

An “amazing” town meticulously designed to replicate a British village has been constructed more than 5,000 miles away. Thames Town reportedly came with a £530 million price tag and sits just 19 miles from central Shanghai in China.

It’s modelled on an English market town, featuring cobbled streets, red telephone boxes, Victorian terraced houses and corner shops. Thames Town, named after the River Thames, formed part of the One City, Nine Towns development announced in 2001 to address Shanghai’s overpopulation crisis.

The wider development also included villages inspired by German, Dutch, Canadian and Spanish architectural styles.

Thames Town was previously labelled a “ghost town” due to sky-high property prices and numerous shuttered shops. YouTuber Ben Morris paid a visit to Thames Town and initially felt he “could be in Milton Keynes ” upon arrival.

In his video, he said: “I am from the UK, I have lived most of my life in the UK, and I feel as though I could be in the UK right now, except for the Chinese number plates and the lack of crime.”

Ben, who explored Thames Town during torrential rain, added: “I’m actually at home, this is amazing. What’s even more homely about this place is, the sprinkle on top, the weather is stinking, it couldn’t be gloomier and it’s cold.”

Properties in Thames Town were originally priced at approximately £400,000, but many were purchased as investments, driving prices even higher. The area has since become a sought-after location for Chinese couples seeking an authentically British backdrop for their wedding photographs.

Alongside the pedestrianised British-style streets and Tudor-inspired buildings, Thames Town features a church based on Christ Church in Clifton, Bristol, a fish and chip shop, a KFC, and even a replica Costa Coffee. The residential properties were designed in Georgian and Victorian architectural styles.

Ben concluded that Thames Town could provide families with a “taste of England” or an escape from Shanghai’s hectic city life.

He said: “Honestly, this town is a lot nicer than many towns I’ve been to in the UK. I don’t know what anyone is on about when they call this place a ghost town because it is full of activity.”

He added: “It was weird walking around a town that felt so familiar but, at the same time, not at all.”

Fellow YouTuber Harvey in China described Thames Town as looking “eerily close” to Britain during his visit a year ago. However, Harvey found the town “very, very empty” on a Saturday.

He added: “It is so surreal walking along the cobbled streets. It is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It seems everyone here is some sort of vlogger, live streamer, or photographer, just here to take photos, or obviously tourists.”

Dean, a reviewer on Tripadvisor, has dubbed Thames Town as a “worthwhile visit” for those touring Shanghai. He penned: “It worthwhile to visit if you’re in Shanghai for longer than a week. You’ll have to spend more than one and half hours to travel to the place”.

Meanwhile, Anna, who visited in 2021, was equally impressed, stating: “The town is very nice! It really does feel like I’ve stepped back into the UK! Lovely little town to just walk around and escape Shanghai!”.

The holiday season is Hallmark’s Super Bowl.

This year alone, Hallmark has 80 hours of original holiday-themed programming, including two unscripted series, two scripted series, a holiday special and 24 movies with titles such as “The Snow Must Go On” and “Christmas at the Catnip Cafe” that run from mid-October to Christmas.

The company also has branched out into the experiences business with a Hallmark Christmas Cruise and the Hallmark Christmas Experience festival in Kansas City, Mo., where the company is based.

“I think that’s one of the most brilliant business decisions they’ve made, and they’re expanding there because they have to,” Anjali Bal, associate professor of marketing at Babson College, said of Hallmark’s experiences business. “It allows a connection between the consumer and the brand on a direct level in a way a movie can’t provide.”

It may seem like a far cry from Hallmark’s roots as a greeting card purveyor, but company executives say the holiday feelings evoked by its cards, ornaments and gift wrap translate into the type of content they produce.

And that plethora of content has turned Hallmark into a Christmas juggernaut, fueling competitors such as Lifetime and Netflix, which also produce holiday romantic comedies in the vein of Hallmark movies.

But Darren Abbott, Hallmark’s chief brand officer, doesn’t seem overly concerned.

“There’s a reason everyone else is trying to do this, and it’s because consumers are looking for this,” he said.

Hallmark’s legacy is rooted in celebrating holidays and Christmas, he said, “and no other business or brand has that.”

Countdown to Christmas

Founded in 1910 by an 18-year-old entrepreneur hawking postcards, Hallmark built its brand over the years through cards, holiday ornaments and retail stores.

The family-owned business ventured into entertainment in 1951 with the television presentation Hallmark Hall of Fame. Today, Studio City-based Hallmark Media operates three cable networks, including the Hallmark Channel, which debuted in 2001, as well as a subscription streaming service.

Though Hallmark had aired holiday movies practically since the inception of its cable channel, the company doubled down on the season in 2009, rolling out “Countdown to Christmas,” a 24-hour-a-day programming block focused solely on holiday content, a tradition that has lasted for 16 years.

Hallmark produces about 100 movies a year, both holiday and non-holiday films.

As a privately-held company, Hallmark did not disclose its finances, though executives acknowledge the holiday season is a key driver of entertainment revenue.

The expansion into entertainment is a way for Hallmark to stay in the zeitgeist over multiple generations and to diversify its business beyond just cards and retail products, analysts said.

“Their television stations and experiences business allows them to stay culturally relevant while staying true to their origin,” said Bal, the marketing professor.

Holiday programming — and the breezy, romantic fare Hallmark has become known for — has become increasingly popular with audiences.

Holiday features, both old movies and new, typically make up more than a third of total movie viewing time in December, according to U.S. television data from Nielsen. That percentage has remained fairly consistent for the last three years, though it reached 42% in December 2021.

Hallmark’s television viewership also edges up in the months leading into the holidays. In October, Hallmark commanded 1% of total viewership across linear TV and streaming, ticking up to 1.2% in November, according to Nielsen data. During that same time, competitor A&E, which owns Lifetime, remained constant at 0.9%.

Hallmark’s feel-good movies typically resonate with audiences across the country. They invariably conclude with happy endings (and at least one kiss), where romantic misunderstandings, financial difficulties and family drama all get resolved. After years of criticism, the movies’ casts and plot lines are diversifying, though experts say there is still room for improvement.

“These films are designed to be highly appealing to broad audiences,” said Kit Hughes, associate professor of film and media studies at Colorado State University, who watched every single Hallmark film released in 2022 for research on the portrayal of small business owners. “They’re good consensus movies.”

To grow its audience and the types of stories it tells, Hallmark has increasingly turned to brand partnerships, including with the NFL.

Last year, the company released a movie centered around a Kansas City Chiefs romance; this year, it released one about Buffalo Bills fans. Hallmark also has a partnership with Walt Disney Co. to release a holiday movie next year set at Walt Disney World. The film stars Lacey Chabert, who Abbott describes as Hallmark’s “Queen of Christmas.”

Meeting Hallmark stars on cruise ships

Hallmark’s foray into the cruise business might seem odd, but it follows a long tradition of entertainment companies
creating real-world experiences with their fans, whether that’s on a ship, in a theme park or on a stage. As part of its massive tourism business, Disney operates its own line of cruise ships that promote the company’s classic characters.

Hallmark launched its first “Hallmark Christmas Cruise” last year on Norwegian Cruise Lines. The inaugural cruise from Miami to the Bahamas sold out even before a planned TV marketing campaign. After racking up a wait list of 70,000 people, Hallmark had to add a second cruise, Abbott said.

For this year’s cruise, from Miami to Cozumel, Mexico, Hallmark had to book a bigger ship to accommodate demand. During the November cruise, attendees participated in various Christmas festivities, such as ornament-making workshops and cookie-decorating, and mingled with Hallmark stars in various on-stage games.

The cruises even spawned an unscripted Hallmark show focused on the experiences of several attendees and their interactions with Hallmark actors.

Many are not exactly household names, but they’ve starred in dozens of Hallmark holiday movies over the years and have loyal fan bases.

Abbott joined the cruise last year, and while he’s not a “cruise person,” he said he was fascinated to see how guests interacted with the stars.

“We’re a bit of a respite from what’s going on in the world right now,” he said, “and these experiences sort of hit on that at the right time and the right place.”