Christmas market in Lincoln sees application surge
A record number of businesses have applied to run stalls at Lincoln's Christmas market, organisers have said.
The event sees stalls set up in and around the castle and it attracts about 150,000 visitors from across the world.
City of Lincoln Council received 400 applications for 250 places at the four-day market and said they believed this would help boost quality.
The event came under pressure last year after a dip in visitors and criticism the standard of some stalls had fallen.
The team selecting applications said they would do so based on previous experience, local connections and distinctive merchandise.
Rob Bradley, from the City of Lincoln Council, said: "It is a nice problem to have because if you want to engineer - for want of a better word - the quality of the market, you have to have sufficient quality stall applications to choose from.
"Sometimes in the past we have had X number of slots and only Y number of applications, so your ability to select on grounds of quality was limited."
This year's Christmas Market will run from 2 to 5 December.