‘Charlie and the chocolate catastrophe’: Children left in tears at Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow

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Children burst into tears as offended dad and mom rounded on the ringleader of a Willy Wonka experience which turned out to be a sparse Glasgow warehouse adorned with a rainbow and a bouncy fort.

Furious dad and mom shelled out £35 for the world of pure creativeness promising a “delectable” chocolate fountain and “whimsical” Oompa Loompas who in actuality had been actors struggling to recite scripts unexpectedly handed to them the evening earlier than opening.

Organisers House of Illuminati apologised for the “stressful and frustrating day” and supplied 850 refunds earlier than closing the experience to friends on Saturday.

Aileen Butcher, who had taken her daughter, instructed the Daily Record it was an “absolute disgrace”.

She mentioned: “We went inside and there were some posters, a visual display including a rainbow, toadstool and a gobstopper.

“There also appeared to be a table strewn with jelly beans and a bouncy castle at the back. It took us a minute to walk through.

“Some families were very, very angry and had little children who were crying.

“It was a tense atmosphere and new families were arriving looking bewildered.”

Stuart Sinclair travelled two hours to attend the experience along with his household mentioned on Facebook: “It was nothing short of shocking.

“It was described as a full Wonka Experience with chocolate fountains, but the kids received two jelly babies and a quarter of a can of Barrs limeade.”

Actors complained on social media they got only one evening to be taught a script earlier than it was torn up and they had been instructed to improvise round objects that weren’t even there.

Mr Sinclair instructed The Independent: “All the cast that were there did their absolute best. Unfortunately, they were all sub-contractor actors hired by Illuminati and haven’t been paid either.

“They were in as much shock as us. But it was probably worse for them because this is their job and made them look bad when it wasn’t their fault.”

He added: “All the parents rounded on the guy running it. He was there and everyone was at him trying to get answers. It was that bad it was just laughable.”

Police Scotland mentioned officers issued steerage to crowds increase exterior the closed venue.

A House of Illuminati spokesperson mentioned: “Today has been a very stressful and frustrating day for many and for that we are truly sorry. Unfortunately, at the last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried our best to continue on and push through and now realise we probably should have cancelled first thing this morning instead.

“We fully apologise for what has happened and will be giving full refunds to each and every person that purchased tickets.

“We planned a fabulous event and it just did not take shape as planned and for that we are truly sorry, we are devastated at how this has turned out and understand people’s anger and frustration that everyone has had, refunds have already started being issued and the rest should be over the coming days, again we are truly sorry to everyone.”