A CHRISTMAS attraction that had more in common with Scrooge than Santa Claus has been forced to close after a flood of complaints from families.

Parents were furious after spending £20 a ticket to Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland, set up in the Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, only to discover a sparse warehouse devoid of any Christmas cheer.

Advertised as having “fantastic features”, organisers offered visitors the chance to “focus on losing yourself in our Magical Winterland”, and promised a winter walk, a Frozen sing-along and a chance to feed Santa’s reindeer.

But the Christmas-themed event featured rubbish-strewn hallways, poorly-constructed exhibitions and reindeer confined to a bare and shabby enclosure.

After the flurry of complaints at its opening on Wednesday, organisers promptly shut down the attraction without giving warning to people who had bought pre-booked tickets.

It reopened on Friday and although some attempts had been made to inject some magic into the festive attraction, it was not enough to win over unhappy customers and it later closed for good.

Kat Manson, who booked to take her niece Evie to the event, said: “We’ve had a family ticket booked for a long time for this special event.

“The journey there was full of excitement and wonder, Evie was going meet Santa.

“We checked the website this morning to see what we were going to be doing, but there was no mention of any closure. We were all excited.

“We arrived at a near empty car park and a lonely car park attendant ushered us into a car parking space without saying a word.

“We were met at the desk by two female staff who said 'sorry' we are closed'."

A spokesman from Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland said: “It is with great regret that we have decided to close Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate permanently.

“We worked very hard to create a family event and have received some positive feedback but also some adverse publicity.

“We plan to refund anyone who bought tickets in advance and can be contacted at info@yorkshiresmagicalwinterland.co.uk.”

Yorkshire Event Centre, at the Great Yorkshire Showground, said: “We were saddened to learn that Yorkshire's Magical Winterland is not to continue its run.

“We have assisted where possible, but the organisers feel that it is not possible to continue with the event following the adverse publicity.”