The Christmas shopping season will be officially launched this weekend when Grammy-nominated singer Craig David switches on the lights in London's Oxford Street.

The spectacular, on Sunday, November 6, will be staged between John Lewis and House of Fraser, and launches London’s festive shopping season.

Kicking off at 6.15pm, it is staged with children’s charity NSPCC and will be hosted by Capital.

Craig, who appeared on kmfm in September, has a No.1 album Following My Intuition, 16 years after Born to Do It debuted at No.1.

He said: "It's a great honour to be switching on the lights and lighting up Oxford Street. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and an incredible 2017."

The stellar line-up of live performances includes Nathan Sykes, The Vamps and last year’s X Factor winner Louisa Johnson.

After forging a successful career with The Wanted, Nathan Sykes is now known for his vocals and solo chart success. The youngest ever winner of X Factor in 2105, Louisa Johnson topped the charts with Clean Bandit for Tears earlier this year and released her first solo single So Good last week.

For the first time in four years the length of Oxford Street will be closed to traffic on Sunday, between noon and 7pm, for a family festival, with a full day of entertainment in the hours leading up to the switch-on including pop-up dream factories, balloon making, craft workshops and face painting, plus an interactive grotto.

Toy maker Hasbro will be inviting children to discover the My Little Pony bus, complete with photo booth, colouring station and face painting. They can also climb aboard the Transformer’s Optimus Prime truck and Bumblebee car, and trying a life size Monopoly board, complete with a giant dice.

The stores will also be joining in with the festivities with a series of indoor and outdoor activities, plus plenty of food treats.

The switch-on will be at 6.15pm, and is in conjunction with the NSPCC and Hasbro, launching its Little Stars campaign, which asks the public across the country to donate a suggested £5 to dedicate one of Oxford Street’s world famous lights to someone special in their life. All money raised goes to NSPCC.

Find out more at oxfordstreet.co.uk