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A five-year-old was left asking “is Santa real?” after meeting a shopping centre Father Christmas who wore shoes instead of Wellingtons and had a brown beard.

Lisa Evans said she visited Liverpool’s Famous Grotto - which used to be based in the old Lewis’s building - on Friday evening.

The mum took her two daughters Sophia Evans, aged five and Bella aged three, to see Santa and said she researched the best grotto to go to, as she wanted the experience to be special.

But the disappointed mum said when her five-year-old came out she told her mum ‘that isn’t the real Santa, I could see his brown beard and he didn’t have his wellies on’.

Lisa, from Southport, said: “I was really disappointed. I had built it up, as you do, that we were going to meet the real Santa.

“It is important for parents.

“But his beard was hanging off and my daughter homed right in on it.

“She said she could see his brown beard and he didn’t have his wellies on either - just shoes.

“I came out and told the woman on the till who found it funny and had a smirk on her face who said she would ‘go in and tell him’.

“It isn’t funny and could have completely ruined everything for my daughter.”

Lisa said she paid £8 per child and £1 per adult to enter the grotto - which she had chosen because her mum used to take her to the grotto in Lewis’s when she was a child.

The 44-year-old: “When we walked in it looked lovely, it is just a shame they couldn’t even get a beard to stick on and a pair of boots, he was young and didn’t sound like Santa at all.

“I am not usually one to complain but I was fuming.

“It is not like the grotto is something that is up all year round, so I just feel like they could have made more effort.

“I ended up having to backtrack and tell my daughter that it was one of Santa’s helpers.

“Thankfully my youngest daughter didn’t really understand.

“When we went out for dinner afterwards Sophia was telling everyone ‘it wasn’t the real Santa’.

“I am just really hoping that it hasn’t ruined any of the magic for her.”

A spokesman for Liverpool Famous Grotto said: “We are sorry to hear that this customer had a disappointing experience, however, we need to balance it against the overwhelming positive feedback that we have received from literally thousands of very happy customers that have visited the famous Liverpool grotto.

“If the customer would like to revisit our grotto, then we look forward to welcoming them back.”