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2023: General Discussion

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I'm pretty sure the gardens are owned by Nick Leslau, along with the rest of the site. Although obviously with the house and gardens being listed, English Heritage have an interest in them not becoming more dilapidated than they already are.

The plan for the house walk-through just seemed to hit a brick wall (no pun intended) and it's like the people on the planning committee at Staff's Moorlands have vowed never to speak of it again. Michael Fisher also died not too long ago and I believe that he was working on the information for the signage etc in the various parts of the house. Suits Towers as they get to leave the Scarefest junk all over the place in any manner that they wish.

Happy to be corrected on any of the above, but that's my general understanding of the situation currently.
 
BarryZola said:
The only interest Merlin have in the Towers is for storage and to house Scarefest mazes. Otherwise they're a burden to them (apart from the occasional bit of work as a bargaining chip in planning applications). They have no intention of spending much money on them. It would be too expensive anyway. In my personal opinion the best thing they could do in the foreseeable future is to make safe as many parts of the house as possible and allow people to go and explore, with information boards placed throughout. They can't even be bothered to engage with that idea anymore though. They won't even open them at all. That's how disinterested they are.
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I actually think in a perverse way the planning process has prevented the restoration of lots of the historic park.

Towers know that restoring something is a good bargaining chip when they want planning permission, if that’s the case, even if they where happy to restore things anyway, why do it when that means you lose bargaining power for future planning applications?

In some ways I do wonder if that’s slowed down the restoration effort.

BarryZola said:
I'm pretty sure the gardens are owned by Nick Leslau, along with the rest of the site. Although obviously with the house and gardens being listed, English Heritage have an interest in them not becoming more dilapidated than they already are.

The plan for the house walk-through just seemed to hit a brick wall (no pun intended) and it's like the people on the planning committee at Staff's Moorlands have vowed never to speak of it again. Michael Fisher also died not too long ago and I believe that he was working on the information for the signage etc in the various parts of the house. Suits Towers as they get to leave the Scarefest junk all over the place in any manner that they wish.

Happy to be corrected on any of the above, but that's my general understanding of the situation currently.
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Leslau owns the freehold, the ruins are still Merlin’s problem.
 
2024 job roles are starting to go up on the recruitment website. In a change from recent years the hourly wage now appears to be included in the job spec.

No great surprises really in that most are min wage but some are slightly higher such as ride ops on between £11 and £11.40 per hour.

When it comes to the minimum wage it appears the park pay everyone at the 18+ rate or higher (£7.49), so anyone under 18 will still get the higher rate. Unlike Aramark who pay the absolute minimum for all (so £5.28 for 16/17 yr olds)

 
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AT86 said:
2024 job roles are starting to go up on the recruitment website. In a change from recent years the hourly wage now appears to be included in the job spec.

No great surprises really in that most are min wage but some are slightly higher such as ride ops on between £11 and £11.40 per hour.

When it comes to the minimum wage it appears the park pay everyone at the 18+ rate or higher (£7.49), so anyone under 18 will still get the higher rate. Unlike Aramark who pay the absolute minimum for all (so £5.28 for 16/17 yr olds)

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Minimum wage is £11.40 for over 21 from April 2024 anyway and Aldi are already offering £11.40-12.30 to store assistants. so that rate for ride op is the minimum they should be paying.
 
If anyone even considers applying, I'd implore them not to. It's just not worth it.

Is it any wonder why they're trying to recruit from further afield than Stoke, because they've burnt through the pool of potential employees and everyone in the area knows what an awful place it is to work. Minimum wage is an insult.
 
jon81uk said:
Minimum wage is £11.40 for over 21 from April 2024 anyway and Aldi are already offering £11.40-12.30 to store assistants. so that rate for ride op is the minimum they should be paying.
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I wasn’t suggesting for a second that the pay was acceptable, simply posting what the reality appears to be now they have publicly listed the pay rates for the first time in many years.

The roles are starting in Feb 2024 for training ahead of reopening so I assume they will all be adjusted upwards come April 1st once the new rates kick in. If they keep the same 0.98p an hour above min wage rate for ride ops that they currently appear to have, you are looking at around £12.42 come April.
 
AT86 said:
I wasn’t suggesting for a second that the pay was acceptable, simply posting what the reality appears to be now they have publicly listed the pay rates for the first time in many years.
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Oh my comment was not directed at you, understood you were posting the facts, I was just adding that what they are offering is rubbish.
 
No salaries for the roles in Technical Services unsurprisingly. As someone who's worked in FMCG environment as they want, nearly all of the team of engineers wouldn't apply for a job with no salary listed. I wouldn't even consider it.
 
Long term strategy for engineering/technical is the new academy: Take non-unionised people on as teenagers and hopefully bypass recruiting pre-qualified people all together.
 
Burner said:
If anyone even considers applying, I'd implore them not to. It's just not worth it.

Is it any wonder why they're trying to recruit from further afield than Stoke, because they've burnt through the pool of potential employees and everyone in the area knows what an awful place it is to work. Minimum wage is an insult.
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Until september when a whole bunch of new uni students start looking to earn money!
 
MattyH said:
Until september when a whole bunch of new uni students start looking to earn money!
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Just wait until they start hiring people from both the East Midlands!
As people here don't know about the working conditions, so it's fine for AT/Merlin!

In all seriousness, I hope that they do get more staff. However, on a more permanent contract. Mind you, they'd have to pay... Minimum wages! Which scares all the major companies in the England.
 
EarthlyKnight27 said:
Just wait until they start hiring people from both the East Midlands!
As people here don't know about the working conditions, so it's fine for AT/Merlin!

In all seriousness, I hope that they do get more staff. However, on a more permanent contract. Mind you, they'd have to pay... Minimum wages! Which scares all the major companies in the England.
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Everyone has to pay minimum wage, as a minimum. That's the point. It doesn't scare major companies, it's what they legally have to do. Government announces an increase in the minimum wage, everyone at the minimum end has an increase to the same amount. It's literally a minimum. The bare minimum. Companies, major or not, expect it, permeant contract or zero hours.
 
Unless, of course, you term your business as an educational training institute, and have placement students working for free...or a discretionary placement "fee".
It happens I'm afraid, including theme parks.
I have known the "students".
International ones.
...and there are a couple of dozen local employers around me that are still paying a fiver an hour in the black market rag trade, knocking out counterfeit stuff.
I have an amusing roll of Harrods labels.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Everyone has to pay minimum wage, as a minimum. That's the point. It doesn't scare major companies, it's what they legally have to do. Government announces an increase in the minimum wage, everyone at the minimum end has an increase to the same amount. It's literally a minimum. The bare minimum. Companies, major or not, expect it, permeant contract or zero hours.
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Oh, I know, I was being semi-sarcastic.
Still, it'll be interesting to see how this all works out for AT/Merlin. As they might use the higher minimum wage as a way of raising the ticket prices again. As they could say they've been 'forced to' because of the higher minimum wage.

Also, imo, the higher minimum wage... Whilst needed, it was just a political stunt as the long election has begun. (Also, this as political I'm getting. I don't want the mods/admins here to strike me down! xD)
 
Tbf I am sure Merlin were planning for a min wage rise into their forecasts as they will every year.

As it stands currently online tickets for 2024 appear to be £1 cheaper than at the end of 2023.
 
AT86 said:
As it stands currently online tickets for 2024 appear to be £1 cheaper than at the end of 2023.
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Is that not just because October tickets had a Scarefest premium, whereas March will have lower demand so the price is lower? I assume the March 2024 price is no cheaper than the March 2023 price.
 
Poisson said:
No salaries for the roles in Technical Services unsurprisingly. As someone who's worked in FMCG environment as they want, nearly all of the team of engineers wouldn't apply for a job with no salary listed. I wouldn't even consider it.
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Given engineering roles at the moment, given what they’re asking for it’s madness bordering on negligent. They want get the right quality candidate and I imagine get an electrician with a laptop.

As for unions, Alton have a very very chequered past with unions. Just google it
 
jon81uk said:
Is that not just because October tickets had a Scarefest premium, whereas March will have lower demand so the price is lower? I assume the March 2024 price is no cheaper than the March 2023 price.
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It’s across the board. Saturdays are £43 in 2024 versus £44 even at the start of 2023 etc. Plenty of time between now and March for them to alter them of course.
 
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