Christmas lights trail at city park cancelled

A Christmas lights event which had been expected to attract more than 70,000 people in Leicester has been cancelled.

Northern Lights - described as an immersive light trail - was due to take place at Abbey Park from 18 November to 31 December.

Organisers confirmed to the BBC they had made the "difficult decision" to cancel the event as they were "unable to sustain the scale and size of the event that we would expect to deliver for our customers".

A spokesperson for Northern Lights Leicester said all customers had been contacted and full refunds were being processed by its ticketing partner.

The light trail - which was proposed to be about one mile (1.6km) in length - would have been hosted in the grounds of Leicester Abbey and the ruins of Cavendish House.

According to From the Fields - which also organises the Kendal Calling music festival - the event was also due to feature a Christmas village and vintage fairground rides, with tickets costing £12 for children and £17 for adults.

A spokesperson for Northern Lights Leicester said: "We can confirm we have made the difficult decision to cancel Northern Lights Leicester at Abbey Park.

"Our aim is to deliver experiences of the highest standard across every trail we host around the country, but after careful consideration we have regretfully concluded that we are unable to sustain the scale and size of the event that we would expect to deliver for our customers.

"This was not a decision we made lightly, and we sincerely apologise to everyone who was looking forward to experiencing Northern Lights Leicester."

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