Ashby councillors have called on the town's Christmas Market to be made even bigger next year following the popularity of this month's event.

The Christmas Market was organised for the first time by Ashby's Business Improvement District (BID) - at relatively short notice.

But, with large crowds attending on both the Saturday and Sunday, Ashby de la Zouch Town Council felt there is scope to increase the size of the festive celebration.

Ashby Town Centre Manager, and BID official, Stuart Benson, spoke to councillors at this week's Events & Entertainment Committee.

He said: "It was a fantastic event for the town.

"It was very well attended, particularly on the Saturday when the town was heaving.

'The comments from the stall traders were that it was the best event they'd ever done.

"That's brilliant to get that sort of feedback. I've started gathering some testimonials we can put out.

"These are the things we should be shouting about."

But he admitted not everything had gone to plan and added: "There were issues with the snow cannons, which we recognise.

"We had an issue with the gas supply in the run-up to the event.

"So we opted for a snow machine as a back-up. It didn't go to plan on the Saturday as we hoped, the machine froze up and it produced a mist.

"Sunday produced challenging conditions with snow and ice. I'd like to thanks Cllr Zamani who came out with a shovel and started clearing the snow around the stage area to get things started on time."

Cllr Avril Wilson, the current Ashby Mayor, said the event was good for the town.

She added: "It was really busy, the shops and cafes did really well, you could hardly move in the Mews."

Cllr Kenny Horn said that better pre-planning would make the event even more successful.

The BID was only confirmed as this year's Market organisers in September.

Cllr Horn said: "It's a really good foundation, and there was plenty of room at the top of the town for more exhibitors and retailers.

"One would hope that, given more time next year, you'd be able to attract even more stalls.

"But maybe there's more North West Leicestershire District Council can do to attract more traders."

Committee chair, Cllr Murrae Blair-Park, underlined the event's importance to the town.

He said: "It's a real feather in the cap for Ashby - as was the whole weekend.

"We now have the scope to make bigger and better.

"But also, the Santa Fun Run & Walk was on, off, then on again. The Sunday was a great day.

"The organisation of that was fantastic, they did an incredible job.

"The weekend sent out a real positive message for the town."