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Chessington World of Adventures Resort

This might seem like a random question, but; on a note mildly related to the post from @Skyscraper talking about “the world’s first Jumanji theme park less than an hour from London”, is Chessington technically in London? Or did I make that up completely?

I only ask because I seem to remember hearing that Chessington is technically located within an area considered part of London; I know it’s not in Central London or anything, but I could have sworn I remembered hearing that it was in a London borough and technically considered to be part of Greater London.

However, I was discussing that with my parents (I can’t quite remember what got us onto it…), and they seemed very insistent that Chessington wasn’t in London, instead insisting that it was in Surrey, Sussex, or Kent. They argued that “if Chessington is part of London, then why isn’t Thorpe Park, because that’s just as close to London as Chessington is?”. They also argued that my dad grew up relatively close to Chessington, and he definitely lived in Kent rather than in Greater London.
 
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Matt N said:
This might seem like a random question, but; on a note mildly related to the post from @Skyscraper talking about “the world’s first Jumanji theme park less than an hour from London”, is Chessington technically in London? Or did I make that up completely?

I only ask because I seem to remember hearing that Chessington is technically located within an area considered part of London; I know it’s not in Central London or anything, but I could have sworn I remembered hearing that it was in a London borough and technically considered to be part of Greater London.

However, I was discussing that with my parents (I can’t quite remember what got us onto it…), and they seemed very insistent that Chessington wasn’t in London, instead insisting that it was in Surrey, Sussex, or Kent. They argued that “if Chessington is part of London, then why isn’t Thorpe Park, because that’s just as close to London as Chessington is?”. They also argued that my dad grew up relatively close to Chessington, and he definitely lived in Kent rather than in Greater London.
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I believe Chessington is literally on the very boundary of Greater London and sort of sticks out, all the access to Chessington in believe is outside of Greater London but the park itself is in Greater London. I'm very sure @Thameslink Rail will know more (he seems to know these sorts of things).
 
My old address in Croydon was officially Surrey.

Chessington is in Borough of Kingston though, and therefore within London. Also its within the Travelcard zones (I don't think Thorpe/Staines/Chertsey are) so that's another plus point for the being in London thing.
 
Technically it's in Surrey but parts of Surrey are considered Greater London.

It's inside the M25, which a lot of people loosely classify as London.

Either way "only one hour from London" makes it sound a lot further away than it actually is, which is weird because theyre trying to sell it. It's only a 20 minute drive from Putney.
 
Come to think of it, I do seem to remember reading that Chessington is going to be within Sadiq Khan’s Low Emission Zone from 2023, which would also add weight to it being part of London.

I can’t believe how narrowly Chessington is in Greater London by, though… the part of Greater London that encompasses it almost looks as though it was created exclusively for Chessington!

By the looks of that map, the status of both of Merlin’s Resort Theme Parks in the South East with regard to Greater London is rather “on the cusp”:
  • Chessington is within Greater London, but literally by the skin of its teeth.
  • Thorpe Park isn’t within Greater London, instead falling within Surrey, but again, that classification is literally by the skin of its teeth… London Heathrow Airport, which is only around 10 minutes’ drive away and less than 10 miles from Thorpe as the crow flies, makes it into the boundary Greater London, technically falling into the London borough of Hillingdon.
Interestingly, that map also suggests that the intended site of the London Resort, despite having London in the name, doesn’t actually fall within Greater London at all… instead falling within Kent. Both Thorpe and Chessington would appear to have greater weight to a claim that they are in London than the London Resort would, in spite of neither actually claiming to be in London while the London Resort site (sort of) does by virtue of the name.
 
I can't believe that despite Chessington investing in a prototype B&M wing coaster and a whole new waterpark, (two of the largest investments in quite literally decades) it's the established location of the park that is being discussed. :tearsofjoy:

It's within the M25. Therefore it's London.
 
Danny said:
I can't believe that despite Chessington investing in a prototype B&M wing coaster and a whole new waterpark, (two of the largest investments in quite literally decades) it's the established location of the park that is being discussed. :tearsofjoy:

It's within the M25. Therefore it's London.
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Oh, it’s definitely an exciting time! I was merely wanting to resolve that question because I wasn’t previously sure on the answer.
 
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