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Long dead parks.

rob666

TS Member
I have spent a lot of time idle the last few days, reading up on old parks such as Belle Vue (Manchester) and Raikes Hall (Blackpool).
A few hints often get left behind, the Raikes Hall pub is still in Blackpool and you can still work out the site of the Matlock Bath switchback from a century ago.
Anyone got any more long dead parks for me to read about?
 
The Stones played there.
150,000 on a single Easter Monday!
I once got snuck in via the bar in the pub that made up part of the entrance boundary, my much elder brother in law worked there, so it was free entry for all the family via the bar hatch.
Missed the Bob's by a year, had many rides on the Scenic, 5p a ride I think.
The tale about the new elephant trashing its transport container was amazing.
The handler decided it would be safer to walk him...so they did.
From Edinburgh.
Only took ten days.
 
How about Battersea Park Fun Fair, the site of the world's worst rollercoaster accident in the UK in 1972? A train rolled back down the lift and derailed, killing 5 children and injuring 13 others.

I don't think any trace of the park remains today, and most people have never heard of it despite its history.

rollercoaster.jpg


https://londonist.com/2014/03/londons-forgotten-disasters-the-battersea-big-dipper-crash
 
^ I wonder if Battersea Park Fun Fair would still be going today if the accident didn't happen? Probably not due to the general development of the area, but who knows.

Would be brilliant having a coaster so close to the heart of London.
 
I think you’re probably well up to speed with Granada Studios Rob, but the place does fascinate me. It was a fairly ambitious and unique park for the UK (and Europe) at the time. Its scope and quality was commendable and its links to the wider Granada theme park empire interesting.

I often wonder what today’s industry would be like had Granada remained in that sector, with its financial backing and IPs to draw on, it could well still be providing Merlin with much-needed competition. The park’s demise is equally lamentable given it wasn’t as a direct result of its performance but more the ongoing mergers and ONDigital fiasco.

How I miss the place.
 
I think you’re probably well up to speed with Granada Studios Rob, but the place does fascinate me. It was a fairly ambitious and unique park for the UK (and Europe) at the time. Its scope and quality was commendable and its links to the wider Granada theme park empire interesting.

I often wonder what today’s industry would be like had Granada remained in that sector, with its financial backing and IPs to draw on, it could well still be providing Merlin with much-needed competition. The park’s demise is equally lamentable given it wasn’t as a direct result of its performance but more the ongoing mergers and ONDigital fiasco.

How I miss the place.
Granada were not a particularly high quality operator. Granted I never did the studios, but after they bought out Park Hall Leisure they basically rammed their (mostly British) IPs in to the American Adventure, mostly to the detriment of the pre-existing theme.

I'm not sure if Camelot had the same treatment but certainly the quality dropped under Granada's ownership.

From what I understand, Granada's disposal of their theme parks (and later their catering and roadside services businesses) was to allow them to stay alive in the consume-or-be-consumed madness of the ITV network in the 90s. I'm sure ONdigital wouldn't have helped though.

I too have wondered what might have happened if Granada chose a different path and sold their ITV franchise instead.
 
I did the Studios once, but as a coaster freak who doesnt really do shows it just wasnt for me.
Very popular though, but the sort of place that did not pull repeat punters.
Skytrack was a complete farce.
Both the Studios and Camelot suffered from lack of investment, nothing more.
With a big new attraction every couple of years, they both could still be in business.
 
Both the Studios and Camelot suffered from lack of investment, nothing more.
With a big new attraction every couple of years, they both could still be in business.

Camelot tried but were knocked back with planning permission after local residents complained about the applications. This is ironic, because once the park closed due to them wanting to build houses, the said housing development was then rejected due to locals. The locals then wanted the park to re-open, even though they didnt want the park to expand. Talk about ironic. :)

If those plans had been permitted, then Camelot would have opened up a Vekoma Invertigo in 2002 and could have heralded a whole new era for the park.
 
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