Controversial Ferris wheel is scrapped by Paris, sharing fate of ‘tacky’ Christmas market

Paris councillors on Wednesday voted to axe the city’s prominent riverside Ferris wheel, the French capital’s version of the London Eye.

Run by “fairground king” Marcel Campion who has also seen his Christmas market on the Champs-Elysees scrapped because authorities deemed it too tacky, the attraction will be closed from July 2018.

City councillors voted almost unanimously against granting him a fresh licence for the “Grande Roue”, which has sat intermittently on the Place de la Concorde near the Louvre museum since 1993.

Councillors said getting rid of the wheel would help protect the area’s “historic visual appearance”.

They indicated that they were not against a Ferris wheel being erected somewhere else, said deputy mayor Bruno Julliard.

It could potentially be set up in time for next year’s Christmas holidays, he said, adding: “Anyone could apply to run it, even Marcel Campion.”