City centre Christmas tree branded an 'absolute joke' and a 'disgrace'

A council’s 50ft Christmas tree has been branded a “disgrace” and an embarrassment for the city after it was apparently left looking like it had been ‘attacked with silly string’.

The festive centrepiece in Leicester has become an ongoing saga after officials at the city council were forced to abandon efforts to decorate it two weeks ago because the tinsel was too heavy, leaving just the top section decorated.

Amid widespread mocking, the tree was redecorated but the new attempt has now been branded an “absolute joke” when it was revealed at the big switch-on on Thursday.

Around 20,000 people attended the city’s festive lights switch on, but many took to social media to criticise the appearance of the tree and its lights.

Andy Betts wrote: “The tree looks like the lights have just been dumped on it”, while Leanne Graham added: “That tree is a disgrace”.

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Rachael Betts said the tree was “an absolute joke”, and Lisa Vickers commented: “It looks like someone has attacked it with 100 tins of silly string.”

And Linda Smallman Varney wrote: “It’s embarrassing for Leicester.”

Leicester City Council allocated £220,000 to this year’s Christmas decorations budget including an extra £50,000 to update fixtures and fitting across the city.

A spokesperson said: “Around 20,000 people enjoyed the switch-on of the Christmas lights in the city centre last night and we had some excellent feedback from the people there.

“Sadly it seems you can’t please everyone, but we hope that thousands more people enjoy the rest of our Christmas activities, including meeting Santa’s real reindeer in Jubilee Square this Saturday, and visiting the fantastic winter food festival at the market on Sunday.”