Fury as UK’s oldest Xmas market axed by ‘Grinch’ council because it’s TOO popular – & replaced with ‘letdown’ ice trail

SHOPKEEPERS in Lincoln have condemned the decision to scrap the Xmas market as shortsighted despite the health and safety concerns.

The event’s permanent axing follows previous cancellations of the festive market.

Many residents who attended the event in recent years say it was overcrowded and the crowds could sometimes be intimidating.

But they argue that all the event needed to make it a UK wide attraction was re-organising it over a great number of days and expanding the site.

It is understood hotel bookings have been hard hit as well as the profits of family owned niche businesses that have put the very character into the Lincoln shopping experience.

Fudge shop worker Erin Dauber, 23, said: “I went to the last ever Xmas market and it was terrible. We were pinned into the castle.

“It was like being at a concert with everyone pushing to the front. We could not breathe and there were kids screaming and crying.

“It was extremely uncomfortable. But that being said, the market did bring in a lot of money and it now a lot tougher for local businesses to get through January without it.

“It should have been spread over a couple of weeks, not three days. Lincoln is a tourist city and that way it would bring in even more tourists.

“People come from all over the world for the Xmas market.”

Staff the Lincoln Original Pie Shop reckoned that the city was so steeped in history and the town such a loved place to shop that it could survive without the market.

The shop itself has a long history including where Lawrence of Arabia TE Lawrence wrote the Seven Pillars of Wisdom when it was a boarding house and he was at RAF Cranwell.

Manager Mary Walker said: “Lincoln is a beautiful city regardless of the Xmas market. It was not the be all and end all and we are doing fine without it.

“We get loads of holiday makers including many from Australia and America and we have customers who come back year after year.”

Nodding in agreement, her son Lewis Walker, 18, added: “Lincoln has become more of a university town and that’s good for business too.

“I did not attend the Xmas market except once on a drunken night out. It was good for business but the way it was organised was very hectic.

“Of course, when the market was going we were smashed for business. But it really needed to be spread over more days and spread out more so that more of the town benefitted.

“Health and Safety can be a tough job when you have thousands and thousands of people going but that could have been solved by having it over a longer period.”

Anna Clarkson, 28, who runs the Steep Hill Wine Shop, said: “We are hoping they will bring the market back and it will encourage more people into the shops rather than around them.

“The aim should be to attract more people to this part of the city so the shops at the top of the hill can do as well as the ones at the bottom.

“Anything that brings people up here is beneficial to local businesses and the Xmas market certainly did that. It was good – but really packed.

“It was a bit too mad for me and the crowds got a bit crazy. The last one I went to I had a toddler in a harness and that was a bit scary.”

Ashley Metcalfe, 33, and Josh, 36, visiting from Sacramento, California with seven year old daughter Lucy and other family members were very disappointed.

Ashley said: “We had put the trip together to visit a Xmas market and get here to find there is no Xmas market on.

‘We could not get any answers from the local websites here what was going on.”

Josh added: “Then I spotted a column saying it was cancelled two years ago so we missed it by a long chalk.

“I can understand if they had cancelled it because local residents had complained but health and safety does not make any sense.”

Ashley added: “We are leaving here tomorrow so we are just going to visit the Xmas market in Bath instead.

“We did not realise the Xmas market was cancelled until we got here so it was very disappointing. It seems such an ideal location.

“I would have been beautiful at Xmas. We know Xmas markets are something Europe does well. We don’t really have anything like it around where we live. So we don’t understand the local politics.”

Speciality tea and coffee shop workers Ollie Simons, 29, and Emily Hodgson, 29, were also disappointed.

Ollie said: “It is frustrating. It was a huge attraction to Lincoln. I think it was very short-sighted to cancel it outright rather than fixing the problem by spreading it out more and improving security.

“The biggest sales we had were during the Xmas market.

Emily added: “A lot of businesses around here are really struggling because they do not get as much footfall.

“The market was once so packed it took me 40 minutes to get through it to get to work but they could have extended it and spread it out more down the street.”

Ollie said: “An ice sculpture trail is nice but it is not attracting people from all over the world to see it like the Xmas market did. The business has been here 33 years and we miss the Xmas Market.”

Another disgruntled shopper stormed: “We tried to come in previous years and could not get a hotel. So this year we have a hotel but no market. It is very frustrating.”

Another trader Tony Green said: “I do feel it is a shame and football has definitely fallen. We think there is some kind of skulduggery going on.

“The market should have been spread out over the whole city. Just to cancel it for health and safety reasons is quite lazy.

“People come to LIncoln to shop so this is just Elf and Safety. By changing the market they could have created a huge attraction not just for Lincoln but the whole of the UK.”

Mia Atkins, 22, said: “I did go to the very last Xmas market and thought it was rubbish and very poorly organised.

“I am glad they called it off. It was very stressful. We got stuck in the crowd in the castle and could not get to any of the stalls in the end.

“But it was good for local businesses and it was really just a question of having it better organised so it was less crowded.”

But another young resident Bradley Jarman, 22, said: “I went to the last Xmas market and did not think it seemed that crowded anyway.

“They were supposed to be laying on events throughout the whole year to make up for its loss but I have only seen a couple and they were not very well promoted.”

Labour councillor Joshua Wells previously said: “Our first year of events in the Lincoln programme was a great success for the city, bringing in thousands of people to experience the culture, history and community spirit that Lincoln has to offer.”