City of Lincoln: Christmas market numbers
The Council says thousands more people than ideal turned up last year
The Lincoln Christmas Market would be “overwhelmed” by any more visitors, the city council has warned, with 50,000 more visitors than ideal already coming in 2022.
The large crowds led to “anxious and concerned” visitors and contributed to the council’s decision that the event should be scrapped.
The four-day event in uphill Lincoln has a maximum capacity 250,000 to 270,000 without visitor experience being affected.
However 320,000 people turned up in 2022, causing long queues around the castle and Lawn area, with people describing it as a “nightmare” and a “disaster” on social media.
Letters of complaint were received following the event, although the council says the general feedback was positive.
A report to the City of Lincoln Executive meeting says the market is already at maximum capacity, and dissatisfaction would only grow with any further visitors.
The council made a loss of £43,000 on this year’s event.
A total of £750,000 was spent on infrastructure, including stewarding, lighting and traffic control.
However, it warns “the anticipated uplift in visitors in 2023 and beyond will overwhelm the physical capacity of the area” and “no amount of additional infrastructure will cope with any further increase in visitor numbers.”
The council has explored several options to keep it running in a modified form, but all have been ruled out.
The cost of stretching the event over two weekends would be “prohibitive”, according to the report.
Ticketing the event would be “impossible due to the many entry and exit points”. If tickets were required for the castle, queues would back up into Castle Square and cause safety concerns.
The financial situation would be even more difficult in 2023 due to rising costs.
The council is instead proposing a six-week ‘Christmas in Lincoln’ period spread across both the uphill area and city centre with a series of “mini-attractions”.
The budget would also help to run other smaller events throughout the year.
The decision to end the market has proved controversial, with a petition to “save” it gathering 1300 signatures in two days.
Announcing the change on Friday, council leader Ric Metcalfe said it was an “exciting time” for the market.
“We understand that following the massive success of 2022, so many people in such a small area over a short period of time can be uncomfortable, and we want to ensure the best experience possible for visitors to our wonderful city,” he said.
“In spreading events through the year, we would be able to give businesses the opportunity to have ongoing financial boosts through increase footfall across the year.”
The proposals will be discussed on Monday, February 20.