Diwali lights event could be sacrificed - mayor

Thousands of people attended the 2023 Diwali Lights Switch on the Golden Mile

Leicester's popular Diwali lights switch-on event could be "sacrificed" over the cost of staging it, the city's mayor has said.

The city traditionally celebrates the Festival of Light with two events - a switch-on of illuminations along the Golden Mile on Belgrave Road and a later fireworks display and funfair on Diwali Day itself.

However the authority has been considering consolidating the two because of the £250,000 cost of staging both of them.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby was asked to clarify what would happen with 2024 events at a recent council scrutiny meeting.

He said the council had been involved in discussions with stakeholders and he confirmed the illuminations would be in place as normal.

However he said talks were continuing over whether there would be two separate events.

"I understand that the stakeholders are particularly keen to see an event take place on Diwali Day itself [on 1 November] and if something has to be sacrificed it would be the switch-on event," he said.

He said efforts would continue to try to attract sponsorship funding to enable one or both events to take place in future years.

The Diwali Day fireworks traditionally draw huge crowds to Belgrave

Conservative city councillor Abdul Osman said: "We see where this is heading. The Diwali Lights switch-on is a world-famous event attended by tens of thousands of people from every community.

"It's a major boost to the city's economy. Both events should remain.

"We have already lost the Caribbean Carnival this year. We can't lose another major festival."

Karan Modha, 37, who owns Anokhi House of Sarees in Belgrave Road, said: “It’s a shame because the lights ceremony and Diwali day have both happened for more than 40 years now.

"The shop has been here since 1967 – we’ve seen the birth of it [the event].”

“Economically, it makes sense but from the businesses’ point of view, it is heartbreaking for those that open on the night as they’ll lose that business from a prospective 40,000 people on the night [of the switch-on].”

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