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Alton Towers Ruins - Behind a Paywall

Rob

Rob

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This is a new thread created from existing dicussion in the 2024 General Discussion thread relating to the news that Alton Towers have confirmed that public access to the historic Towers ruins will be not be returning.

You can read a TowersStreet opinion article on the news here.

A limited number of guided tours are to be available throughout the year, priced at £10. But for the first time in the history of the theme park, the ruins will be only be accessible to day guests who pay this extra charge.
 
Immensely disappointing news. It wouldn't cost a huge amount to install CCTV and staff it, and I'm sure the council would be in favour of any minor adjustments to ensure the building is accessible.

Whilst the tour is cool, I'd only really welcome it if there were still the option for free-roaming, unguided exploration. I've very fond memories of my earlier trips round the building and pondering over what it all was, and taking it in at my own pace.

It's another two steps forward, one step back situation. Why am I surprised?
 
It’s yet more detailed and welcome comms to be appreciated.

Disappointing though, as the Towers nowadays are sadly little more than a nice backdrop, they should be front and centre of the park experience. Fully appreciate the constraints and resource requirements associated with listed buildings though.
 
The listed building excuse is a bit BS I think, they run plenty of cabling and stuff for scarefest mazes. CCTV wouldn't be a major issue.
But if they are concerned about graffiti and antisocial behaviour they could have some CCTV and staffing and open limited hours like 12-3pm with staff present, then have a one way turnstile on the exit to usher people to once they are closed.
 
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I don't think its H&S per se, unless damage done to the ruins has caused danger to the public. Maybe on closer inspection they have found vandalism and damage that English Heritage (or whoever monitors these things) deem unacceptable?
 
Times change, rules change and the public and people in general change.

I would argue that perhaps installing CCTV is slightly different to installing temporary lighting. I am aware there are cabling ways and emergency lighting but the rules could have changed to what they are allowed and are not allowed to do. Alot of that stuff was installed over 20 years ago, very plausible that they simply are not allowed to install anything else permanent into the building. Most certainly the rules around this would have changed in that time. Tieing the hands of the park so to speak.

The park are right. People don't play by the rules and they do what they want at times, endangering themselves and ruining it for others. This seemed to be a recurring theme when the Towers were open to the public.

I feel there is a desire to open them to the public freely, but for many reasons, some listed above, does not make it feasible in the world we live in, today, in 2024. Far more care has to be taken in everything that is done in this day and age.

I feel the guided tours are a pretty decent compromise, when you consider the cost of even food on the park, £10 is not much, not at all. You are getting decent value in that alone as you are getting a guided tour of both Towers and the Gardens. Minimum wage is above £10 per hour, but even anyone on the minimum wage of this country is essentially getting 2 hours worth of entertainment for the equivalent of less than 1 hours worth if work. That is not bad value. Yes I know it is ontop of the park ticket, but that should be okay once they get ride availability back upto scratch. If they included it as part of your park ticket, numbers could be unmanageable. So it makes sense to give this as a cheap, affordable, optional extra.

I still maintain this is pretty decent.
 
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The maze stuff is very temporary, with little to nothing bolted in I would imagine, but can be easily hidden behind themeing or is mounted on to the non-historical bits of the Towers.
 
Steve74 said:
Better to have the paid tour and no public access than have the ruins permanently shut to from the public.
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It’s an almost eternal truth, things could always be worse. I’m not sure that’s cause for celebration though.

It’s entirely possible for them to install CCTV. It’s entirely possible for them to install new doors. The Towers were open for years before Scarefest came about. Seemingly it’s only now an issue though?

The Resort should be seeking listed building consent if there are additional measures they want to put in place. It’s certainly possible to carry out such alterations, since Listing a building is not intended to prevent change. I’m guessing that Historic England would look reasonably favourably on such an application if it were in connection with reopening the building to visitors.
 
venny said:
The Resort should be seeking listed building consent if there are additional measures they want to put in place. It’s certainly possible to carry out such alterations, since Listing a building is not intended to prevent change. I’m guessing that Historic England would look reasonably favourably on such an application if it were in connection with reopening the building to visitors.
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There is nothing to say they aren’t looking into this?

The fact they are seemingly removing Scare mazes out of the Towers suggests something is happening behind the scenes, whether that is driven by the park or the heritage organisations and/or the council isn’t clear. But there could well be plans afoot for the longer term. Anything involving changes to a listed building is going to take its sweet time.
 
Who’s to say they aren’t? Well, their statement for one.

Given their penchant for spinning just about any glimmer of investment into massive positive news, one would expect they would have mentioned in their statement if they were investigating such an application.
 
venny said:
Who’s to say they aren’t? Well, their statement for one.

Given their penchant for spinning just about any glimmer of investment into massive positive news, one would expect they would have mentioned in their statement if they were investigating such an application.
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I disagree and agree with the comment above you. They are probably being really careful to confirm any future plans, unless concrete and will pass safety and planning criteria as well as fans just turn on them as we have seen previously. But I do feel they are making the towers more a priority where they can, removing scare mazes slowly and looking at ways to utilise.

There has been so many great changes this year and a season full of surprises, improvements and changes. I don’t see any other UK theme parks investing throughout the season in various ways like this, I do feel we need to have a little abit more faith on here.

I feel next season will be the one to watch with all the dark rides up and running, the sky ride, potentially 3 new flats rides, galactica re-theme, building on there successful events infrastructure, more focus on the towers and success of the climbs and tours. Everything is going in the right direction in my eyes!
 
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Tom said:
The CCTV argument is weak, they could employ security.
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It isn't because it would cost way more over time to employ security than it would to install a CCTV system.

We just had a 50 camera system installed at work, for the same cost you could employ 4 security guards for just approximately 6 months, we did look at it. It just simply isn't economical.

The CCTV system not only covers a much greater area than what 4 security guards can cover, it will also work for decades without much replacement hardware.
 
My point is they don't want to spend that extra money. They don't have to, so they aren't.

Suggesting the tours are the only way of keeping the Towers in tact and accessible, is somewhat questionable.
 
Tom said:
My point is they don't want to spend that extra money. They don't have to, so they aren't.

Suggesting the tours are the only way of keeping the Towers in tact and accessible, is somewhat questionable.
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But there is a HUGE difference is spending for CCTV vs security guards.

It's plausible that they simply don't have the budget to fund the amount of security guards that would be needed. But do have the budget for the much, much cheaper CCTV but are having their hands tied by Heritige England and whatever other government agencies.
 
Tom said:
They already employ security guards, they could also open them for 1-2 hours per day and only on select days.

It is clear this is about money, but it isn't acknowledged in the updates. Ultimately this so-called problem has appeared suddenly after many decades of open access.
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Would those security guards not be needed elsewhere though? Hence why they are employed right now. Who's gonna check the cameras and deal with issues on the park if those security guards are stuck in the ruins.

You will always need a few guards to check cameras and do other security related tasks. But companies tend to keep them to a minimum due to high costs. They find cheaper alternatives such as CCTV.

I agree, it clearly is about money, my arguments never even disputed that fact, they supported it. But hiring a load more security guards just for the ruins is not only uneconomical, it is extremely inefficient.
 
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