IPSMAS MARKET

The time is getting closer and some stallholders in Ipswich Market are already taking steps to meet the Christmas shopping spree, and the council has erected its controversial "tree" for the fifth year in succession.

The aluminium structure with more than 40,000 LED lights attracted widespread negative comments when it was first erected in front of the historic town hall in 2012, with descriptions including "a giant dandelion plant", and "as near to a Christmas tree as a bacon sandwich is to an apple."

But some people praised Ipswich Borough Council for trying something different, and it has become the regular centrepiece of the town's annual festive illuminations.