Why does the South West of England lack major or semi-major theme parks?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Despite us English people often acting like we have it badly in terms of semi-major theme parks, we actually have a fairly diverse selection spread quite nicely around the country. You have the cluster of major parks around London, you have Alton Towers and Drayton Manor in the West Midlands, you have Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the North West, you have Flamingo Land in Yorkshire, you have Fantasy Island in the East Midlands, you have Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and Pleasurewood Hills in East Anglia... quite a lot of England has a major or semi-major park nearby! But one key exception to that is the South West of England. South West England is the largest ONS statistical region in England in terms of area, encompassing the counties of Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire, yet the most notable theme park the region has to offer would probably be either Brean Theme Park in Somerset or Crealy in Devon, which are definitely not major or semi-major parks on a nationwide scale. There are no parks in the South West that I would call semi-major; there are no parks that have any particularly notable draws beyond Pinfari and Reverchon +1 coasters, which is at odds with the rest of England. Most other regions of the country have at least one semi-major theme park, but the South West has nothing. With this in mind, I'd be interested to know; why does the South West of England lack major or semi-major theme parks? What are people's theories on this?

As someone who lives in the region (albeit at the very top of it, in Gloucestershire), I'll admit to being slightly stumped as to how the South West drew the short straw in terms of English theme parks. The region is awash with popular tourist and holiday destinations; Devon, Cornwall, Weston-super-Mare, Dorset and numerous other seaside resorts lying within the area are very popular and have hordes of tourists visiting them every summer. And even outside of the peak summer season, the region is not exactly short of major population centres to provide a captive audience. Bristol is one of the UK's most populous cities, and the likes of Swindon, Plymouth, Bournemouth, Exeter, Gloucester and Cheltenham, amongst others, also have considerable populations. The region has a prominent motorway, the M5, and parts of the region also have very favourable rail links with London through the GWR rail network. As far as I can see, the region has a lot going for it compared to some parts of England that manage to sustain major theme parks, yet there's nothing here in terms of notable theme parks. I can maybe understand why the furthest reaches of Cornwall don't really have anything, as there is very little captive population in that county, but surely somewhere like Somerset, Gloucestershire or Wiltshire has a good enough captive audience and good enough transport links to sustain a major or semi-major theme park? At very least, surely large parts of the South West could sustain a semi-major park on the scale of, say, Flamingo Land?

So I'd be intrigued to know; why do you think the South West of England lacks major or semi-major theme parks?

 

[DiogoJ42]

Because there's nothing else down there, no motorways, and very limited rail links. They would struggle to attract visitors. The type who holiday in that part of the country are usually at least 84 years old, and wouldn't be interested. For those who might want to go, it's simply too far from anywhere. Just look at Oakwood.
Any park that did open would find itself unable to build anything worth travelling for anyway, due to the local "outstanding natural blah blah", never mind the NIMBYs.

ETA: The other day I heard that Dingle's Fairground museum is closing, and thought "Oh, we'd better get there while we can". Took one look at this and thought "well, that's a shame".

 

[Matt N]

Because there's nothing else down there, no motorways, and very limited rail links. They would struggle to attract visitors. The type who holiday in that part of the country are usually at least 84 years old, and wouldn't be interested. For those who might want to go, it's simply too far from anywhere. Just look at Oakwood.
Any park that did open would find itself unable to build anything worth travelling for anyway, due to the local "outstanding natural blah blah", never mind the NIMBYs.

ETA: The other day I heard that Dingle's Fairground museum is closing, and thought "Oh, we'd better get there while we can". Took one look at this and thought "well, that's a shame".

For Cornwall and to a lesser degree Devon, I fully agree with your reasoning. Cornwall in particular just has no captive population and is miles from anywhere.

But what about the wider West Country? Why couldn't Somerset sustain something, with the M5 and rail links to Bristol and beyond? Why couldn't Wiltshire sustain something, with the M4 and road and rail links to London? Why couldn't Gloucestershire sustain something, with the M5 and rail links to Bristol, Birmingham and beyond?

In my view, there are large parts of the West Country that have more going for them on paper than areas that already sustain theme parks in this country. If you put a park near one of the large holiday resorts in Somerset, for example, that would probably be no worse in terms of road and rail links and captive population than the parks in East Anglia, Fantasy Island and Flamingo Land, and those sustain themselves fine (particularly the latter two). That's why I'm confused about why the entire South West England ONS region draws a complete blank in terms of major or semi-major parks.

 

[Ted]

I think it's down to the natural growth of a park's popularity through the years and how they got their share of the market. It's why Alton Towers is the most popular park in the country despite being in the middle of nowhere, Staffordshire. In the 80s, people went out of their way to go to Towers because Corkscrew looked like the best thing this country had at the time and naturally just kept coming back, it's the same for Oakwood with Megafobia, it was the same for Lightwater with The Ultimate.

The South West missed that boat, or didn't have the same effect with anything it may have installed. Unless they had some kind of cash boost, it's hard to play catch up with the established.

 

[NuttySquirrel]

Unfortunately the region has a history of chronic under-investment, and this isn't just limited to theme parks and equivalent attractions.

Bristol is a hub for certain industries especially engineering and aerospace, as well as film and tv production, but really there are no other cities in the region with anything like the same economic standing. Even Bristol itself does not attract the same investment as equivalent cities further north such as Manchester and Leeds. Bristol does not have a major music venue, or a large sporting arena, or a major shopping and leisure venue (let's not kid ourselves that Cribbs Causeway is on anything like the scale of the Trafford Centre or a Westfield). Previous efforts to fund such developments have typically fallen flat on their face, with very little support from central government - who have always been more interested in 'levelling up' the north - perhaps in an attempt to win votes.

Somerset has traditionally been farming country, with vast areas prone to flooding and a poor transport infrastructure aside from the M5 cutting through it. It does not really have a tourist industry, lacking good sandy beaches, cultural centres or any particularly striking scenery.

Devon and Cornwall are too far from the major population centres to be anything other than summer holiday destinations for a lot of people - and as we have seen with Oakwood, most parks cannot survive long-term on summer holiday traffic alone. Unfortunately when the summer tourists head back up the M5, much of these regions suffer from chronic unemployment, lack of affordable housing and all the social problems that are associated with a general lack of opportunity. Pretty much all of the people I know that grew up in Devon/Cornwall couldn't wait to get out as soon as they were old enough to move away from home, heading to the more prosperous parts of the country for education and job prospects.

 

[DiogoJ42]

@Ted makes a good point. They couldn't just open with a fourth-hand Pinfari and a few travelling flats, then hope people will turn up and give them enough cashflow to invest in bigger rides later. They wouldn't last a year.
It'd take a company on the scale of Universal throwing wads of cash about to build a park from scratch that anyone will notice.

 

[Matt.GC]

Again with the ONS definitions of "South West" though, which only really exists for population reasons. It's quicker to get to Kent from Cheltenham than it is to get to Penzance. It's quicker to get to Manchester from Swindon than it is to get to Newquay. It's two very distinct regions. Devon & Cornwall (maybe parts of Dorset as well), and then 'The West'. The Cornish even have their own language and Independence party!

So it's easy to see why there's not much in Devon and Cornwall. The M5 stops at Exeter (no motorways at all in Dorset or Cornwal), and train lines get really crappy beyond that point as well. Devon, Cornwall and Dorset are mostly really remote parts of the country, it'd be like whacking a theme park in northern Scotland. Scotland itself being a country that is bereft of such attractions also, probably for the same reasons.

So that leaves 'The West'. You could argue that most of Gloucestershire is pretty close to Towers and Drayton. North Wiltshire is close to Drayton, Towers, Thorpe, Legoland, and Chessington. It's not too far to get to Thorpe, Legoland, and Chessington from South Wiltshire.

So Somerset and Bristol are ideal counties to have a theme park then? Not too close to any others. Good rail links. Good motorway links. Plenty of tourists passing through. Major cities nearby. Easy to get to from London, The Home Counties, Cardiff, Newport, Birmingham etc. But there's a problem there too. The reason Bristol has some of the strangest City boundaries of any in the UK is because of it's geography. Greenbelt for miles to the south, and east, Cotswolds to the north east, Somerset levels to the South west, coastline to the north west. No places for a theme park in either direction there, which is where all the infrastructure is. The rest of Somerset is almost entirely greenbelt outside of the urban areas apart from the area around Bridgwater, Taunton, and Minehead so that really only leaves those (highly depressing) locations as viable options.

And as @NuttySquirrel rightly points out, it's surprising how low infrastructure investment is around these parts. I'm not complaining as the reason this region isn't on the map for anything, is because it's generally more wealthy than the likes of South Wales, the North East, North West, and East midlands. This entire part of the country went through the deindustrialisation period well before those other regions I mentioned, and reinvented it's economy far earlier. Whilst other parts of the country were on their knees by the 1970's and 1980's, The West had already been through this 100 years before, with Bristol itself being surpassed by the likes of Manchester and Liverpool at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The road and rail infrastructure in Yorkshire and Lancashire is practically state of the art compared to the nonsense we have down here. I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but we're not on anyone's map for any kind of investment like this.

 

[RustyRider]

For Cornwall and to a lesser degree Devon, I fully agree with your reasoning. Cornwall in particular just has no captive population and is miles from anywhere.

But what about the wider West Country? Why couldn't Somerset sustain something, with the M5 and rail links to Bristol and beyond? Why couldn't Wiltshire sustain something, with the M4 and road and rail links to London? Why couldn't Gloucestershire sustain something, with the M5 and rail links to Bristol, Birmingham and beyond?

In my view, there are large parts of the West Country that have more going for them on paper than areas that already sustain theme parks in this country. If you put a park near one of the large holiday resorts in Somerset, for example, that would probably be no worse in terms of road and rail links and captive population than the parks in East Anglia, Fantasy Island and Flamingo Land, and those sustain themselves fine (particularly the latter two). That's why I'm confused about why the entire South West England ONS region draws a complete blank in terms of major or semi-major parks.

You say that to a lesser degree devon but I live in north devon and for me to get to WsM to see friends/family takes longer than it would if I lived in say, Newquay for example!

I live at least an hour from the M5 meaning that getting to Exeter which is “only” 34 miles from my location takes 1hr 20 on a good day. Honestly the road network around here is appalling and a large scale theme park would never work. Basically just trying to anywhere that is remotely popular adds at least an hour onto every journey.

It’s bad enough at Alton towers once you get off the main roads but there simply isn’t enough road network locally to accommodate the crowds from all angles.

Whilst being visually stunning, it’s a nightmare to live here and I’d go back north in a heartbeat!

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

I think the biggest problem is the M5. I go to Somerset and Devon a lot on holiday and on average a 3-4 hr journey has turned into a 6 hr journey cause of the stop/start so you only would go down there for at least 5 days.
Also there is theme parks but they aimed for families 10 and under. In the summer months theses places are busy but during term time they neither a ghost town or closed in the week to save money.

 

[Jb85]

Gloucester is the midlands
South west is Devon and Cornwall
The latter two are a ball ache to get to.
Hence no theme parks

 

[Matt.GC]

Thinking about possible locations, and having a butchers through Google Maps, everything south of the M5 is pretty much out of the question. From west to east there's Exmoor, South Devon AONB, the Black Down hills, Somerset Levels, the Mendip hills, and the south western edge of The Cotswolds. That's probably why the M5 takes the route that it does as it skirts all of these and follows the A38 really closely.

To the north you have all the ex-industrial land around Bridgwater, but it's around 20 years too late for that. They're just polishing off a large industrial park there (still building now) and loads of development due to Hinckley Point C (although Bridgwater is such a depressing place that could be demolished for a theme park, I don't think the locals would approve). Then you're getting too close to the coast where there's no room, then you're in the Greater Bristol urban area, and Portbury and Avonmouth docks, industrial brownfield land that's still very much in use. Any land that could be used for building within a 30 mile radius of the city would be used for housing and industry, as the docks and Bristol itself are bursting at the seams.

So you're then pushed into South Wales. That could work, but the M4 pretty much doesn't cope now on the other side of the bridge, and much of this is being built on since the tolls went, again to solve Bristols housing problem.

 

[Matt N]

So that leaves 'The West'. You could argue that most of Gloucestershire is pretty close to Towers and Drayton. North Wiltshire is close to Drayton, Towers, Thorpe, Legoland, and Chessington. It's not too far to get to Thorpe, Legoland, and Chessington from South Wiltshire.

It depends what you mean by “pretty close to”. As someone who lives in West Gloucestershire, I wouldn’t describe myself as “pretty close to” Drayton or Towers. Alton Towers is an easy 2.5 hour drive even on a good run, and even Drayton is the better part of a 2 hour drive. Granted, I live in a rural area and it takes a good 45 minutes to get to the M5 at Cheltenham, which probably adds time on, but I wouldn’t describe myself as particularly “close to” anywhere. There are no theme parks comfortably within a 2 hour or 100 mile driving radius of where I live (Drayton is within pretty consistently, but by the skin of its teeth; it’s around 1h 45m-1h 50m and a 93 mile drive). From the area where I live, you have to drive a good distance to go to a theme park, and a trip to a theme park is a proper time commitment and not something that can just be done on a whim. From a theme park perspective, I don’t particularly like where I live, but I guess you can’t have everything.

I get your point about other areas, though. The likes of Swindon aren’t that far from the London parks.

I was mainly thinking about an area like Somerset, where you have literally got nothing within a 2 hour driving radius, but the road and rail links are still quite favourable, the captive population isn’t too bad, and you also have the coastal tourism to Somerset’s seaside towns, Devon and Cornwall to tap into.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

It's been hinted at, but it's also down to population sizes and lack of industrial hubs.

All of the current big parks in the country got their start with the dawn of fast transport by train, and being close enough for factory workers to visit and turn them into pleasure and tourist attractions.

The South West, even now, only really has Bristol as a major city and its population alone isn't enough to sustain investment for a park in that area.

Without a local potential visitor hotspot to prop up the park, it would be entirely reliant on tourists from outside the area to visit and, as other have mentioned, transport connections are woeful.

Have a population density map from the most recent census to help illustrate.

 

[Matt N]

It's been hinted at, but it's also down to population sizes and lack of industrial hubs.

All of the current big parks in the country got their start with the dawn of fast transport by train, and being close enough for factory workers to visit and turn them into pleasure and tourist attractions.

The South West, even now, only really has Bristol as a major city and its population alone isn't enough to sustain investment for a park in that area.

Without a local potential visitor hotspot to prop up the park, it would be entirely reliant on tourists from outside the area to visit and, as other have mentioned, transport connections are woeful.

Have a population density map from the most recent census to help illustrate.

Looking at that map is interesting.

I don’t disagree with what you say in some ways, but if you look at a place like Somerset, for example, there’s probably no less population density within a local-ish radius than places that already sustain thriving theme parks. At very least, the local population for a site in Somerset likely be no lower than that of Fantasy Island, the East Anglia parks and Flamingo Land. Granted, there probably isn’t enough to sustain a major national player like Alton or Thorpe, but do I think there could be enough to sustain something semi-major of the size and calibre of, say, Flamingo Land? Definitely!

 

[Leigh]

Devon is massive and overall very sparsely connected. The places in Devon you would be able to put a major theme park are so far away from any sort of transport links, you’d struggle. Outside of Exeter, Torbay and Plymouth (+ their feeder towns), road links consist of single carriageway or single track(!) roads that would never be able to support it. North Devon in particular is very sparse outside of Bideford and Barnstaple.

Cornwall, interestingly enough, is actually better connected than Devon overall for road links (our “one road” goes anywhere, basically, and is built to a good standard) but has the issue of being so far from the rest of civilisation that it’s an absolute pain to get to and from anywhere outside the county. It also doesn’t really have a major population centre as such either; you’ve got St Austell, Truro and the Camborne/Pool/Redruth conurbation, but none of them are particularly big.

Somerset has been mentioned at length above. Most of the M5 corridor has been developed for industry and the rest is all AONB that you’d never get anywhere with.

Dorset already has Paultons in spitting distance and even its westernmost extremities like Dorchester aren’t that far from it (hour and a bit at most). Even Thorpe isn’t that bad to get to.

I just can’t see the market for it. Even the really small parks are struggling (look at the state Camel Creek, Flambards etc got themselves in over the last year); I can’t see how you would sustain like we’re talking about.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Flamingo Land.

Leeds, Sheffield, York and Newcastle are all handy for Flamingo Land, and explains why that popped up where it did.

East Anglian has Great Yarmouth, a very popular seaside tourist destination since before the wars, and is an example of the train giving a boost to seaside towns.

The only reason why you have Brean / Weston, for example, is it's the closest seaside resort for Birmingham and Bristol's not very far away.

 

[John_P]

If your down those ways you've got Gloucester Services on the M5 which is better than most theme parks.

 

[jon81uk]

@Ted makes a good point. They couldn't just open with a fourth-hand Pinfari and a few travelling flats, then hope people will turn up and give them enough cashflow to invest in bigger rides later. They wouldn't last a year.
It'd take a company on the scale of Universal throwing wads of cash about to build a park from scratch that anyone will notice.

Isn’t the open with some old flats and hope for the best what Southport Pleasureland is doing?

I think that’s the other thing, Cornwall & Devon have some parks that used to be farms or stately homes but there isn’t the history of seaside pleasure beach parks in the region either. Whereas Southend, Great Yarmouth, Morecambe, Southport, Blackpool, Barry Island and other places all had or still have some kind of seaside amusements with a rollercoaster.

 

[jon81uk]

Also I can recall in the early 1990s childhood holidays in Devon/Cornwall and we visited a few different small/medium parks in the area, if there was the market to grow then they could have, same as Paulton has.

I can't recall what I visited as a child but one may have been Flambards and that seems to be doing OK, but I assume their business is very seasonal. Another place we visited had houses and model village parts that were illuminated at night, no idea what it was called though.

 

[QTXAdsy]

It's been hinted at, but it's also down to population sizes and lack of industrial hubs.

All of the current big parks in the country got their start with the dawn of fast transport by train, and being close enough for factory workers to visit and turn them into pleasure and tourist attractions.

The South West, even now, only really has Bristol as a major city and its population alone isn't enough to sustain investment for a park in that area.

Without a local potential visitor hotspot to prop up the park, it would be entirely reliant on tourists from outside the area to visit and, as other have mentioned, transport connections are woeful.

Have a population density map from the most recent census to help illustrate.

Wee bit of topic but you can see Scotland could support a decent sized theme park...instead we got saddled with M&D's and whenever argues that certain park and low footfall proves that Scotland couldn't support a theme park...it's only low is because it is so crap when if they gave a damn, you'd have a park that could do well with little to no competition.

South West sadly does look so far any major population centre to support a park and even if some eccentric type was to build a huge 300ft hyper coaster with the whole 'build it and they come' mindset, even that afraid wouldn't be enough.