Ledbury’s town centre Christmas lights have already been installed - but they’re not being switched on just yet.
The town council says the early installation of the lights will help it deal with any issues that may arise between now and December.
In 2022, there were a couple of glitches with some of the lights on the night of the switch-on event.
Ledbury Town Council also ended up sourcing a second Christmas tree last year after complaints about the first one not being big enough.
A statement was released by the council this week after some residents questioned why the lights were going up before Halloween and Remembrance Day.
READ MORE: Ledbury lights switch-on deals with Christmas tree blunder
A spokesperson said: “We are aware that there have been a number of comments about the Christmas lights being installed so early in the year.
“As we are sure you can appreciate there are many towns in the UK who wish to have Christmas lights, but only a handful of companies who provide them.
“In order to ensure these are all installed, and any issues resolved before the lights switch-on dates for the cities, towns, and parishes it is necessary to install the lights from October onwards.
“As our lights switch is at the end of November we were scheduled for installation early this year to ensure any issues that occur similar to those experienced last year are resolved in good time.”
This year’s lights switch-on event is scheduled to take place outside the Market House on Sunday, November 26 with the lights themselves being switched on at 5pm.
Once again, there will be a whole afternoon of entertainment taking place in the High Street, organised by the town council.
There will be live music from local bands, acrobatic walk-about entertainers and dance displays, food stands and market stalls.
We’ll bring you more details closer to the time.
Last year, then-mayor Phillip Howells had the honour of flipping the switch on the day alongside Ledbury’s carnival princesses.
Father Christmas also made his return to the town council offices to meet with children ahead of the big day.
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