A formerly trendy Christmas market has rebranded as a ‘calm festive environment’ after thousands flocked to the site when it became a TikTok sensation last year.
Event organisers axed the event at Columbia Road Christmas market in Bethnal Green last year as 7,000 people flooded the site raising fears for public safety.
The east London market will also be absent of Christmas tunes this year, after planners were forced to ban carols due to the unprecedented amount of tourists.
The site had been filled with festive joy for over a decade, with offerings of free mulled wine, piano sing-alongs, and longer shopping hours every Wednesday.
Lead by the archdeacon of St Peter’s Church in singing Christmas carols, the east London borough was often filled with a 200-strong crowd.
However the market’s long-standing tradition of glee was brought to a screeching halt when a viral TikTok video was viewed over half a million times last year.
After the video emerged online, visitors descended in droves to the market the following Wednesday, where attendees were ‘packed in like sardines’.
It was also described as a ‘disaster waiting to happen’, whilst locals blamed the ‘dangerous’ overcrowding on the event being advertised on social media.
And after only two Christmas Wednesday events, event organisers St Peter’s Bethnal Green announced plans to axe the caroling – a decision which has continued this year.
Visitors posted videos of the hoards of people at the east London Christmas market last year, as some branded it a ‘disaster waiting to happen’
Hundreds of videos of the event were posted on TikTok, showing the crammed Columbia Road Christmas market after the event went viral on social media in 2023
In a statement, Rev Heather Atkinson previously said: ‘With regret we formally announce that carols will not be taking place on Wednesday 13th and 20th December on Columbia Road this year.
‘The crowds of over 7,000 present last week were of such volume on the road that there was a danger to public safety.
‘We are grateful to God and to those working at the event that there were no serious injuries.’
At the time, they said locals, the police, and Tower Hamlets council supported the decision to axe the singing, which had ‘become dangerously overrun’,
‘To those who were planning to come to Columbia Road to shop, we hope you will return to do that. For those who are coming for carols alone please go local,’ they continued.
Columbia Road has long been a tourist hotspot in the capital, with its flower market held every Sunday seeing a rise in visitors year-round – in part thanks to being promoted by social media influencers.
One Tower Hamlets, an X account representing residents and business owners in Bethnal Green claimed at the time that tourists hadn’t spent ‘anything in shops’.
Footage of last year’s event showing a sea of people on the road has been shared widely on social media, with many saying that had become a ‘victim of its own success’.
Columbia Road Shops and Flower Market posted to say the carols are cancelled last year – a decision they have decided to implement again this year after the TikTok chaos
The event which had been held for a decade was cancelled after only two Christmas Wednesdays last year due to overcrowding
Locals blamed the ‘dangerous’ overcrowding on the event being advertised on social media (Pictured: Attendees in 2023)
One woman captioned her TikTok video: ‘Too many festive vibes. I wanted to punch someone’, while another event-goer commented: ‘Proof that social media ruined Christmas Carols on Columbia Road. Packed like sardines.’
It comes as punters hit out at Britain’s largest German Christmas market in Birmingham, dubbing it a ‘rip-off’ for charging £21 for a beer and a hot dog.
Revellers attending Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market have complained after prices went up to an all-time high when it opened on Friday, November 1.
Two-pint steins of German wheat beer Hofbrau cost £12.50, while a half-metre-long Bratwurst is priced at £9 and a bag of roasted almonds are £4.50.
Some even threatened to boycott the attraction this year, which boasts of being the largest authentic German Christmas market outside Germany or Austria.
Visitors have also taken exception to a new stricter rule banning people from buying more than one drink at a time from the bar – despite the massive queues.
