Centre for locality putting on short pantomime (7)
I believe the answer is:
aladdin
'pantomime' is the definition.
(Aladdin is a popular Christmas pantomime)
'centre for locality putting on short' is the wordplay.
'centre for' says to take the centre.
'putting on' becomes 'adding' (I've seen this in another clue).
'short' means to remove the last letter.
The middle of 'locality' is 'al'.
'adding' with its final letter removed is 'addin'.
'al'+'addin'='ALADDIN'
(Other definitions for aladdin that I've seen before include "Magice lamp finder" , "Fictional owner of a magic lamp" , "And dial up the owner of a magic lamp" , "Panto character with magic lamp (7)" , "One of the tales of The Arabian Nights" .)