Boston bids to attract stallholders from axed Lincoln Christmas Market

The Lincoln Christmas event attracted record crowds to the city in 2022, with 320,000 people visiting over four days

Senior councillors in Boston discussed poaching stallholders from Lincoln Christmas Market within just hours of plans to axe it being announced last month, a meeting has been told.

The Lincoln event, which has been run for 40 years, attracted record crowds to the city in 2022, with 320,000 people visiting over four days.

But despite its success, organisers issued an apology after some visitors complained about overcrowding.

Cutting the event would allow the £260,000 budget to be spread throughout the year, City of Lincoln Council said in February.

Critics of the decision to axe the Christmas Market accused the council of acting "like a convention of Grinches or Scrooges", with Lincoln's MP Karl McCartney saying the safety concerns were manageable.

During a meeting of Boston Borough Council on Monday, Councillor Tom Ashton called the Lincoln market's cancellation an “extraordinary” decision.

He added that it was a chance to "seize the dispossessed stallholders and potentially maybe thousands of visitors" to come to Boston instead.

'Hub town for celebrations'

Nigel Welton, Boston Council's economic portfolio holder, said he had started conversations within 24 hours of the Lincoln announcement.

"We have already started to look at the opportunity for Boston to become the hub town in Lincolnshire for Christmas celebrations," he said.

"Our aim would be to build on the pilot each year and work towards complementary and connected events across the sub-region, with activity in the Lincolnshire Wolds, coast and South Holland," he added.

However, there were also several questions at the meeting regarding a decision made last year by Boston Borough Council to scale back its Christmas lights display due to rising costs and the impact it had on footfall.

The council had claimed footfall had increased by 12.8% compared to previous years.

However, members of the public disagreed and said anecdotal evidence suggested visitors had been put off coming to the town.

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