Not a very bright idea! Families slate £40-a-ticket festive light show and claim their children ‘got more enjoyment waiting in the queue at Tesco’

• Families complained about the lack of festive cheer at a Winter Lights Trail
• Visitors to Peasolm Park in Scarborough also complained about the cost  

A festive lights show in Scarborough is in danger of fizzling out – following a Scrooge-like decision to charge families more than £40 admission.

Residents have blown a fuse over the prices – particularly since they are also picking up the energy bill for the displays out of their council tax.

Walkers looking forward to an evening stroll in the resort’s Peasolm Park have also been stunned to be turned away and told the entire park is shut until December 22 for the Winter Lights Trail.

After a busy Saturday evening turn out for the new event, the park was almost deserted by Monday night with only a handful of people who turned up willing to pay the entrance fees.

Families visiting the Peasolm Park Winter Lights Train have expressed their disappointment at the ‘underwhelming’ display 

The Scarborough visitor attraction received part of a £1.2m grant for a winter festival at the North Yorkshire resort town

Tickets for non locals cost £12.50 with residents paying £10.50, The passes can only be purchased on line, incurring a further £2 administration fee

A family of two adults and two children is charged £35 along with a £3 booking charge. There is also an additional suggested donation of £2.50 to help fund next year’s event.  

Those who did fork out for a ticket were bemused by the gloomy music echoing around the park, the arty displays, including a nude man hologram, and total lack of festive cheer.

The admission price includes a Chinese lantern on a pole but visitors have leave those at the wishing well near the exit or have them taken off them when they leave.

Questions have also been asked about people’s rights to access the historic park since all the paths have been closed off in the evening for the show.

Tickets for non locals cost £12.50 with residents paying £10.50, The passes can only be purchased on line, incurring a further £2 administration fee.

Susie Bell and her two boys,  Beau,  eight, and Leo, four, did not want to pay to enter the park they use every day

A family of two adults and two children is charged £35 along with a £3 booking charge. There is also an additional suggested donation of £2.50 to help fund next year’s event

It was hoped the Winter Lights Trail would recapture the magical atmosphere of the resort’s Tree Walk.

The Tree Walk, or Tree Walk Wonderland as it was also known opened in 1953, and became an iconic attraction in the town before finally closing in 1990.

The illuminated walk enable visitors to access the island in Peasholm Lake and featured a number of illuminated displays on the island as well as a lighting display around the waterfall.

The idea of bringing back the tree walk was first raised in November 2021 after the success of the Moonlight on the Lake event in the park.

One local complained their child has more fun queuing up around Tesco 

In January 2021 the now defunct Scarborough Council earmarked £150,000 for a feasibility study into bringing back the tree walk.

But at a cabinet meeting in December 2022 the idea was scrapped after it was decided to spend the money on maintenance works in the park instead.

The Winter Lights’ Trail was expected to recreated some of the magic as part of the new Scarborough lights Festival designed to bring in more out of season visitors.

Featuring 15 events at 13 local venues and light artworks from the UK and across Europe, it is part of the Scarborough Fair culture boost being funded to the tune of £1.2m taxpayers’ money from the Government’s Town Fund.

But over the weekend, furious locals took to social media to vent their frustration at the cost of admission and quality of the displays.

Featuring 15 events at 13 local venues and light artworks from the UK and across Europe, it is part of the Scarborough Fair culture boost being funded to the tune of £1.2m taxpayers’ money from the Government’s Town Fund

Residents complained about the cost of accessing the display 

Summing up many of the objections, Leanne West posted: ‘Everyone is moaning about the lights in Peasholm. Well, you’ve very right to.

‘If you want to see multi-coloured lights just put your tree up now or pop some on YouTube. You even have to give the lantern back halfway round.

‘Now I have got a fuming eight-year-old who got more enjoyment waiting in the queue at Tesco. I understand they are trying to try something new but we are paying the leccy bill.’

On Monday evening, there were more security staff and council workers in the park than they were actual visitors.

Many of those who did turn up refused to pay and opted to show their children what could be seen from the public road.

Among the locals who could not afford the cost was the Bell family including kids Beau, eight, and Leo, four

Visitors also questioned the relevance of a dragon for a yule time celebration

Mother Susie Bell, 46, ‘It is too much. It has just cost us £16 at St Mary’s Church as a family of four. We came down because we thought it would be free.

‘The music is very somber. There are so few people about maybe they will learn they should not charge. It would have cost us about 35 quid.

‘We came around yesterday day time to see what was on offer while it was all turned off. It really has caused outrage on social media.

‘Blackpool illuminations is on at the moment and that’s free. It would be better if they had a few Father Xmas’s and snowmen rather than dragons and somebody’s backside.’

Another disgruntled local added: ‘It wasn’t worth it. The ironic thing is I can see half the lights from my flat window and Blackpool illuminations is free so why aren’t these?’

‘The problem with Scarborough is they hype up things and reality does not measure up.

“It is like the water park that they charged the earth for – and it went bust.’

Another disgruntled local added: ‘It wasn’t worth it. The ironic thing is I can see half the lights from my flat window and Blackpool illuminations is free so why aren’t these?’

Family David, Sharon, and Lynn Smyth, all retired, also walked away from the display entrance after being told the price.

Sharon said: ‘For us it is too much money. If it was a five each it would be different. But for us it is 30 quid and too much money.

‘There is no interaction. We used to live in Leeds and the displays are more interactive. This is supposed to be for Christmas.’

David objected: ‘You can walk up the road and see most of it from the road anyway so why should we pay.’

Retired miner Colin Barnes, 80, who usually takes an evening stroll was turned back at the entrance barricade and told the entire park was closed for the lights.

He added: ‘I am on holiday I come to the miners home. I am a retired miner. I used to come here with my wife for years and both of us would walk around the park and have a sit and talk over things.

‘Although I have lost my wife I still come around and have five minutes with her on that seat. But. I cannot come in at all this week.

‘I did even know the lights were on. I thought it was a one night thing. I did not know it was on going.

Paying visitors included local pensioners Tom and Lorraine Harnett who toured the display with dog Benji.

She said: ‘We are local. We have lived here all our lives. Years ago when we were kids they used to have the tree walk so we came as nostalgic trip to see what it was.

‘They used to have little animals, cowboys and Indians and pirates all lit up on the tree walk. There were figures all the way around the lake and on the island.

‘But I suppose that is not politically correct now.

Paying visitors included local pensioners Tom and Lorraine Harnett who toured the display with dog Benji. She said: ‘We are local. We have lived here all our lives. Years ago when we were kids they used to have the tree walk so we came as nostalgic trip to see what it was’

But other visitors left the park disappointed. One said: ‘It is a lovely setting but it was not worth the money. But it too late now. I have parted with my cash and there is no use crying over spilt milk’

‘This is more of an art installation than Xmas lights. It is a shame it has not gone down very well so we wanted to come and support it.

‘The thing is if it is a family it is quite expensive for the kids. You can see some it but not all of it from the road above for free.

‘We have enjoyed it but if they want to aim it a families it needs a Xmas or festive theme whereas this actually an art installation. You are not going to have Xmas music at something like this.

‘So I can understand both points of view but we have enjoyed it. It is just something a bit different.’

Tom, 68, added: ‘I think they going forward they could add to it. There are too many gaps and too much darkness between the displays and it could do filling in a bit.’

But other visitors left the park disappointed. One said: ‘It is a lovely setting but it was not worth the money. But it too late now. I have parted with my cash and there is no use crying over spilt milk.’

One visitor from Newcastle said: ‘I thought it would be like festive lights. Twenty quid is a lot to pay as well. You normally get to visit your local park for free’

Other people complained that children would not enjoy the ‘art installation’ light show

The light show is part of a month-long festival to encourage tourists to visit the resort in what is traditionally an off-season

The reaction from a couple from Newcastle was also mixed. The wife, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I did not realise it was an art installation. I thought the trees would be lit up.

‘There is park near us where they have the plants and trees lit up. But this is different and I did not appreciate the concept. The music is a bit sombre too.

‘I thought it would be like festive lights. Twenty quid is a lot to pay as well. You normally get to visit your local park for free.’

They agreed kids would not enjoy the show, compared with the lights in Leeds, which provided activities for children and feature costumed characters.

They added it was also not helping that the prices seemed to be putting people off coming, leading to the park being virtually deserted.

The husband added: ‘It would be better if there were more people with lanterns walking around. There were people behind us in the queue who turned up thinking it was free. They were a bit disappointed on being told they had to pay.’

North Yorkshire Council, in a statement to MailOnline, hailed the light show as a ‘truly inspiring event’ that has already ‘captured the imagination of the thousands of residents and visitors’.

Cllr Simon Myers said: ‘We are delighted with the numbers of people who have, so far, bought tickets and attended the events.’

The council also hit back at the idea that the project was meant to celebrate the upcoming holidays, saying: ‘Scarborough Lights is not intended to be a Christmas festival, it is a lights festival.’

Scarborough will have traditional festive lights on display, decorations and Christmas-themed events in the run-up to the holiday, but the light show is not included in those festivities. 

Some visitors complained about the sombre nature of the music 

Cllr Myers added that the Scarborough Fair project is funded in part by £1.2million from the Government’s Towns Fund programme, which is being used to organise 15 festivals over three years. 

The councillor said that although the funding is ‘significant’, it still needs to be ‘heavily supplemented from other sources to deliver events of the scale, ambition and significance that we would all like to see’.

He added: ‘We are acutely aware of the financial pressures that so many people are facing, so we are bringing an event that offers a range of events, installations and pricing.

‘We truly believe that Scarborough Lights does offer real value for money and the chance to witness a memorable event in the town, which we are pleased to see is already becoming a high-profile addition to Yorkshire’s arts and culture calendar.’

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