Did Lincoln residents enjoy the Christmas Market?
Lincoln residents give their take on the 40th anniversary market.
These are the opinions of tens of Lincoln locals.
Lincoln residents are always divided in their opinions about the Christmas Market. Karen Cutis, Mandy Kettleborough and Brian Penney are amongst the people who have attended the Christmas market every year since the start 40 years ago.
Some people attended some time ago and have not been back since. Linda Reid said, “Went once years ago, I can still feel the bruises from being pushed from pillar to post.”
Someone who agrees with Linda is Richard 0’Reilly. He said, “Went years ago because it had a nice Christmas atmosphere. Not now, because it’s just like a fairground with overpriced tat.”
Ashee Ahmed slammed the event for not being “disability friendly”. She showed dismay over the buses being diverted and there not being many places to sit. She also said, “No blue badge parking near the event is a big no for me.”
A resident who has been attending for many years is Michelle Barr, she said, “I have been every year since I moved here 10 years ago. This year was awful. Far too many people and couldn’t see anything.”
A record 300,000 people attended the Market this year. With over 100,000 attending on Saturday 3rd December. This weekend also had train strikes.
Dave Smith and Chris McCarthy have both lived in Germany and believe the market should adopt a more German style. Dave said, “I was working in Nuremberg one December years ago. Now that’s a Christmas Market. Reasonably priced food and drink, live music, lots of space.”
Chris wants the Market to run for a whole month “as is the case with most German cities”. This way he thinks, “they would avoid overcrowding and stall holders may be able to lower prices instead of trying to rob people blind over one weekend.”
Some people did enjoy this year’s record breaking Market. Peter Donaldson described it as, “nicely busy and had a great time.”
Amanda Anthony said,” We bought some nice foody bits and decorations and got tea from Elite. Had a nice afternoon.”
The general feeling is that Lincoln residents once did like the market. But now they have fallen out of favour with it, mainly due to the disruption and inconvenience it brings.