Santa’s grotty grotto made children cry, claim parents

A popular Christmas grotto reduced children to tears because of a new Santa Claus with a fake beard and “cheap red suit”, angry parents have complained.

Winchester’s grotto, housed in the city’s 13th-century Great Hall, had been beloved over the years because of its jovial Father Christmas, who even remembered the children who visited him.

But this year, families say they came away disappointed, adding that the once-“magical” event – which was organised for the first time this year by the Hampshire Cultural Trust – was a “shambles”.

Matthew Fernandez, 38, paid £61.50 to take his children, River, nine, Lennox, six, and Winter, four, to the grotto, which charges £18.50 per child and £6 for adults who accompany them.

“This was just a guy dressed up in a cheap red suit with a blatantly fake beard and he wasn’t very talkative at all,” he said. “He didn’t seem very jovial. It ruined the experience.”

Referring to the fiasco of a Willy Wonka event held in Glasgow in February, he added: “It almost reminds me of when they had that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory experience.”

Mr Fernandez said the event’s Father Christmas was “nothing like the last one”, who he said was an elderly gentleman with a genuine beard who remembered his children every year.

“You could see that in our kids’ faces,” he said. “This wasn’t there with the new Santa. He wasn’t as jovial and he wasn’t very talkative either.

“My children were polite but as soon as we left they were in tears regarding the situation and said they knew he was a fake.

“It’s always been about the amazing Santa. That’s what drew the people to the Great Hall and sadly now it’s completely lost that appeal.”

Lisa Catherine, who visited this year’s event with her newborn granddaughter, said the “cut-price” grotto was a “shambles”.

“It’s one we’ll never forget, and for all the wrong reasons,” she said. “A very haphazard reading of The Night Before Christmas was told under a tree, apparently magical. Really? It had a smattering of baubles on it.

“Santa… honestly I wanted to laugh. I’ve seen better Santas rolling around town on their way to Christmas parties.

“It was a very, very cheap suit, with maybe a cushion tucked into it, a lady dressed again in a Christmas sweater, but with glitter on her face.”

Laura Garrett, another parent who attended, added: “The Santa asked my children what their favourite song was [but] then forgot the words to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

Hampshire Cultural Trust said the event had “teething problems” but denied that it had been “mis-sold”.

It has offered refunds to anyone who bought tickets “on the assumption that the experience would be the same as previous years” but who is yet to use them.

No refunds are available to those who have already attended the event.

In a statement, the Trust said: “This year’s Santa experience at The Great Hall is brand new and does offer some great new additions which expand the offer.

“At no point have we suggested that this year’s experience was the same as that delivered by the previous operator, and we absolutely refute suggestions that it has been mis-sold.

“However, following the feedback we’ve received, we accept that some customers who have visited in previous years made a booking this year on the assumption that it would be the same format that they enjoyed before.”