A vicious brawl that broke out last night at Winter Wonderland is only the latest violent incident at the event – which has become the most-complained about festive attraction in Europe.
The annual event in London’s Hyde Park has been criticised for years for extortionate prices and huge crowds.
Visitors have claimed overcrowding led to yesterday’s chaotic scenes, which saw a group of men swinging punches at each other before a woman was apparently knocked unconscious.
Defenders of the annual gathering will point out that it generates an estimated £100million for the London economy – while raising vital funds for the city’s Royal Parks.
But for critics, it has become a real-life Nightmare Before Christmas, with some calling for it to be stopped.
Ryan, a reveller who filmed last night’s video, claimed the fight started after one man accused another of ‘touching his missus’.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘Everyone was very drunk, you could tell something was going to happen.
‘It was really lawless and chaotic and there were families with children as well. I go every year, and I’ve never seen anything like that.’
Winter Wonderland has seen trouble in the past, with a 22-year-old man injured last year after an alleged acid attack.
Scotland Yard launched an investigation and has arrested two men aged 21 and 18 along with a 16-year-old boy, all on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.
Winter Wonderland bosses described the attack as an ‘isolated incident involving a corrosive substance during an altercation between a small group’.
The 2022 iteration of the event appears to have been particularly troubled, with one person ‘stabbed in the neck’ outside the attraction and two men fighting each other outside a chicken stall.
In a separate incident, a ride malfunctioned with two people trapped inside.
Three years prior, there was another vicious brawl that saw one attendee put the other in a chokehold.
With around three million people attending Winter Wonderland every year, its organisers would point out that the vast majority do not become victims of crime.
The most recent figures show 127 crimes were reported to police from the event in 2021/22.
For many revellers, their complaints focus on the cost of the event, with a recent review on Tripadvisor calling it ‘overpriced’ and offering ‘poor service’.
The review continued: ‘Not allowing you to bring food in is unacceptable. Terrible service. If you’re going to charge nosebleed prices (and they are extraordinary), the service should be Rolls Royce. We used to go annually. No more.’
Meanwhile, a damning assessment from 2021 read: ‘Didn’t find too much too wonderful in this event other than wondering how some folk had the courage to go on some of the extreme rides.
‘All it was was a massive expensive fun fair and eatery. The Christmas market part was pathetic and uninspiring.’
When the Daily Mail visited the attraction this week, we found stalls selling pints of beer for £8 with festive mulled wine ranging from £6.50 to £9 – depending on what you added in on top.
And it’s not cheap for the children either, with one stall even flogging a single hot chocolate for £11.
Christmas markets often get a reputation for craft stalls selling ‘overpriced tat’ rather than artisan gifts.
Traders have been accused of trying to make a quick buck on mass market goods imported from overseas – the kind that you might find on budget online retail sites such as Temu or Shein – by selling them to Christmas shoppers with a huge mark-up.
One white faux fur coat on offer at the market cost £150. Yet, savvy customers could wait and buy the jacket online at Boohoo for just £85.20.
Elsewhere, one stall sold fun, moving hats of unicorns, pandas and even Pokémon’s Pikachu for £20.
But a quick search online revealed that they could be purchased elsewhere, on Temu, SHEIN and eBay for between £4.77 and £9.99.
Another recent controversy surrounding Winter Wonderland was the revelation that its waltzer rides are operated by a couple who were jailed for three years following the death of a seven-year-old girl on a bouncy castle they were running.
William Thurston Jr, 36, and his wife Shelby, 34, operate the Avalanche waltzers at the annual festive event, which opened its doors once again in Hyde Park, London, on Friday.
The couple were sent to prison in 2018 for gross negligence manslaughter after Summer Grant, seven, died when the bouncy castle blew away and careered down a hill with her trapped inside.
Summer was inside the Circus SuperDome at a fair in Harlow, Essex in March 2016 when a strong gust of wind ripped it from the ground.
Witnesses watched helplessly as the castle blew 50ft into the air before hitting a fence after winds reached 40mph.
Thurston Jr chased the bouncy castle and when it stopped, he unzipped an emergency exit and pulled Summer out, but she was declared dead a short time later in hospital.
The Thurstons were said to have packed up the castle before police had even arrived at the scene.
The court heard the Thurstons failed to properly anchor the bouncy castle or monitor weather conditions, with Thurston Jr telling jurors: ‘The simple fact is we could have taken the bouncy castle down sooner. Obviously now I wish we had.’
Winter Wonderland has been contacted for comment.
