Winter Wonderland event in Glasgow Green branded 'unbearable' by residents

The Winter Wonderland in Glasgow Green has been branded “unbearable” by Calton residents who oppose the event becoming permanent.

Members of Calton Community Council brought their concerns over “commercial exploitation” of the park to Glasgow City Council yesterday, after 85 residents signed a petition stating they felt “disregarded”.

They also said the Green has been damaged by the Christmas event, while one resident claimed many of his neighbours “go away for the weekend or a week” when there is an event on.

A council official apologised “unreservedly for the lack of advanced communication”, which she said was due to “procurement timescales”.

She added that the Green is a “designated event space” and the event sector “increases the economic value and tourism to the city, allowing for investment into city amenities”.

Councillors agreed further action was needed and an updated report will be brought back to the Wellbeing, Equalities, Communities, Culture and Engagement City Policy Committee in autumn.

Glasgow City Council trialled the use of Glasgow Green as part of the city’s Christmas offering due to the closure of George Square. There is a contract in place for it to be used again in 2026.

Jo Shoba, a resident, said they wanted the event to be “revisited” and for confirmation that “even if a reduced fairground goes ahead in 2026, this is not a permanent event.

“We want reassurance that we are not facing that annually because people will have to move.”

Ms Shoba said the petition had been submitted before the event, but the experience was “much worse than anticipated”. “Our broader concern about the use of the Green has also only grown,” she added.

“We want to draw attention, not just to the lack of transparency in consultation, in the rushed process of planning this event, there is an aftermath of damage to the green itself.

“Large areas have been left bare, and the ground will take many weeks, if not months, to recover. It all forms part of a broader picture we see of neglect of Glasgow’s historic Green.

“We seea lack of investment and its opposite, namely commercial exploitation for private gain.”

Arthur McJimpsey, a community council member who lives beside the Green, said: “It was unbearable, the noise levels were unbearable up to 10pm. I sound like the Grinch here, but I’m not. If you stayed where I live, you would be sitting here along with me.

“A lot of my neighbours that can afford it, go away for the weekend or a week, it’s become that bad.”

He said noise complaints had been made to the council’s environmental health, but they were closed during Christmas and the New Year.

The council official said there is normally a “robust community engagement process for major events held in the parks”. She said, on this occasion, there was “advanced communication with the community representatives, but this took place after the event was announced, regrettably”.

Ahead of the 2026 event, there will be a debrief and a “robust engagement plan as we have with TRNSMT”, the official added. She said there had been “no breaches of noise regulations”.

“We have a very robust consultation model for Glasgow Green, this was an absolute anomaly. There are many things we would do differently next time.”

Ms Shoba said: “What we had was multiple fairground rides, all of which were playing different amplified music, an absolute cacophony. On top of that, you have loudspeaker announcements.”

She added: “We’ll go away very disappointed today if the outcome of this is just ‘must consult better, must inform better’. Our points are about the nature of the event and the experience that we had.

The petition called for “timely” talks with neighbours ahead of future events and argued the Green should remain “primarily a recreational space”.

It also stated the duration of the event, from November into January, and the opening hours, from 10am to 10pm, were “unreasonable”.

A council report stated: “There is an almost static number of events held on the Green year on year and although a number of them are commercial and have a longer duration, the majority of events are community and charity based.”

Figures show there were 74 events in 2025 and 2023, with 79 in 2024. Commercial events ran for around 13 weeks in 2025, up from approximately seven weeks in 2023 and 2024.

The report added the park was “fully accessible throughout its [the event’s] delivery with elements of restrictions during the build and de-rig due to safety reasons”.