Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's Christmas attraction closes after children leave in tears

Visitors complained that the festive wonderland was nothing but “a joke” and the Simon Cowell elf was “pointless”

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen promised visitors that his version of a winter wonderland would “push the envelope”, with a “sensational selection of woodland”, but the attraction has been forced to close after hundreds of complaints.

The Magical Journey attraction opened for the first time on Saturday, but was quickly criticised on social media for “ruining the magic of Christmas”.

Guests were charged £22.50 to visit the festive park, situated at the Belfry golf club, in Wishaw.

Some children allegedly left in tears after the disappointing experience.

Ben Harvey also voiced his disappointment: “There is nothing for kids to do, the elf who is meant to be Simon Cowell is completely pointless. The advertised pictures are very different from what you see or do, in the not so magical journey!”

The company has strongly denied claims of a drinking, smoking Father Christmas - asserting that the comment was a "mickey take".

The Magical Journey Experience has since issued a statement, saying that it will close for three days from today until Tuesday 25 November in order to “implement changes and improvements to the experience”. The company blamed “torrential rain effecting the lighting and sound”.

“It is important that we deliver the high quality experience you are expecting and hope to reopen with improvements and changes having been made,” read the statement.

A spokesperson for Llewelyn-Bowen could not be reached.