A sad tale that the council should learn from

The Save Dreamland Campaign was launched by Joyland Books in January 2003 and is now supported by several thousand people. This is the place to discuss all aspects of saving Margate's famous amusement park and its iconic , Grade II listed Scenic Railway, Britain's oldest roller coaster.

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A sad tale that the council should learn from

Postby Yogs » 12 Mar 2004, 13:44

How the west was lost

THE decimation of Frontierland will be completed this year when the last two rides are pulled to the ground.


Only the Log Flume and the Sky Ride remain as reminders of what was once a busy fairground - but is now acres of wasteland and one giant pile of rubble.
All the other old rides and attractions have been either sold on, moved to Blackpool Pleasure Beach or Southport Pleasureland, dismantled or bulldozed.
"There are old rides from Frontierland all over the world now," said Steve Riley, as he showed me around the 'bomb site' which was once billed as 'the UK's premier western theme park'.
"It's very depressing. I have to walk past this every day and it breaks my heart."
Steve has worked at Frontierland for over 15 years and was part of the park management team for most of that time.
He has experienced most of the ups and downs since the then-Morecambe Pleasure Park had its Wild West facelift and became Frontierland in 1987.
Steve was there in the heyday of the late 80s and early 90s, when hundreds of thousands would come to the park each year.
Dwindling
He was there in the days when celebrities such as Annabel Croft, Margaret Thatcher and Curly Watts from Coronation Street paid a visit.
And he was there at the end of the 1999 season when Blackpool Pleasure Beach, owners of the park, announced the start of a gradual closure due to dwindling visitor numbers.
Steve has watched with sadness over the past four years, as the park has been whittled down to almost nothing.
Now, alongside colleague Rob Ellershaw, he manages the Ranch House Bar and arcades - the sole remnants of over 100 years of funfair history...
The Marine Road West site, where Frontierland once stood, was home to a fairground for well over a century.
Controversy
In 1909, the Thompson family, owners of Blackpool Pleasure Beach (BPB), acquired what was then known as West End Amusement Park.
The multi-millionaire Thompsons, whose fairground empire now also includes Southport Pleasureland, have owned the site ever since.
Today, the last vestiges of the park belong to Geoffrey Thompson, managing director of BPB since 1976, the days when Frontierland was called Morecambe Pleasure Park.
Geoffrey initially invested heavily in the Pleasure Park, bringing in new rides and attractions such as Fun City.
Billed as an 'indoor children's paradise', Fun City arrived in 1980 and was an instant favourite with kids.
However, within three months of Fun City opening, Morecambe High School headmaster Mr J D Foster made a complaint about it to the Health and Safety Executive.
Mr Foster claimed schoolchildren were injuring themselves on the Fun City slides, such as the Moment of Truth and Kamikaze.
Controversy also followed the arrival of the 150 foot high Ferris Wheel that season.
The Big Wheel, which opened in 1980, could be seen from the M6 and was a hugely popular attraction with tourists.
But neighbours complained that 'peeping toms' could see into their bedrooms from the top of the wheel and after just two seasons, Lancaster City Council ordered it to be pulled down in a row over planning permission.
The Big Wheel was eventually sent to the Thompson-owned Magic Harbour Amusement Park in South Carolina.
Tragedy struck the Pleasure Park in 1985 when a three-year-old boy was killed after a one-armed bandit fell on him in one of the arcades.
Still dismayed over the council's decision to remove the Big Wheel and claiming to be concerned for the future of Morecambe as a tourist destination, Geoffrey Thompson considered pulling out of the resort in the mid-80s.
But instead, in 1986 he announced ambitious plans to give the Pleasure Park a quoted £1.5million transformation.
Over the next 12 months, the traditional fairground was modernised and turned into a Wild West theme park.
The Casino pub on the seafront, which dated back to 1958, was re-named the Ranch House Bar.
The old Mr Funshine 'smiling sun' logo of Morecambe Pleasure Park was replaced by a brand-new park mascot, gun-slinging dog, Frontier Fred.
Fred (or rather a staff member in a bulky costume) patrolled the park every day for years, meeting and greeting visitors.
The Cyclone roller coaster, first brought to Morecambe in 1938, was now known as The Texas Tornado.
Staff, including ride operators, dressed up in cowboy uniforms and The Morecambe Raiders, the town's fund-raising gang of Wild West buffs, made the park their second homes.
Lavish family entertainment shows, some directed by Geoffrey's daughter Amanda Thompson, were put on in the new Crazy Horse Saloon (which opened in 1988).
Popular attractions from the Pleasure Park days, such as Noah's Ark, The Ghost Train, the Dodgems and The Haunted House, remained.
They were joined by new themed features such as the Trading Post shop (selling cuddly Frontier Freds), the Haunted Silver Mine and the Carousel.
So on June 4 1987, Frontierland was born - officially opened by TV celebrity Jeremy Beadle.
Disaster struck in November 1987 when Fun City, also known as the Fun House, was destroyed by fire. It was eventually re-built as a scaled-down version.
Despite the blaze, Frontierland bosses claimed their first season was extremely successful, quoting an estimated 400,000 visitors through the gates, rising to 1.3million by 1991.
But behind the scenes, insiders claim the park lost money year after year.
Even so, 1989 was a high-profile year for Frontierland.
Tennis and TV star Annabel Croft opened the new Sky Ride, taking an aerial trip with Frontier Fred 30 feet over the promenade.
Meanwhile Coronation Street star Kevin 'Curly Watts' Kennedy turned country singer, performing at the Crazy Horse Saloon in August.
In 1991, General Manager Jim 'JR' Rowland, who had been in charge of the park for 20 years, left Frontierland to manage Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
The following year, the recession hit and Morecambe's tourism industry began to suffer.
Despite a record-breaking Easter weekend in 1992, Frontierland struggled to maintain such high visitor numbers.
That year, Geoffrey Thompson announced a claimed £500,000 investment for Frontierland in the shape of a new 168 foot tall 'space tower'.
This observation tower had been at Blackpool for the previous 12 years.
Bosses said it would offer breathtaking views across Morecambe Bay and hoped it would help revitalise the fortunes of Frontierland.
Popular
Original plans were to site it at the back of the park where the Big Wheel used to stand, but when the Polo-sponsored tower opened in 1995, it was situated on the seafront.
Although originally the novelty of going up and down the Polo Tower proved to be popular with visitors, it soon wore off.
By 1995 Frontierland was facing serious problems.
Although still packed out on bank holidays or during the summer, and popular with families because of its many rides for small children, on certain days the park would close earlier than advertised due to lack of custom.
Park employees at the time, some of whom worked 60 hours a week earning less than £2 an hour, blamed a lack of investment.
While during the 90s Blackpool Pleasure Beach boasted spectacular new rides like the Pepsi Max Big One and PlayStation, no such 'white-knucklers' were brought to Morecambe.
Many local people saw Frontierland as low budget and behind-the-times when compared to super theme parks like BPB and Alton Towers.
By the time Margaret Thatcher paid a visit to the park during the General Election campaign of 1997, naming one of the horses on the Carousel after herself, it was in serious danger of closure.
In February 1999, The Visitor reported that officials from Blackpool Pleasure Beach had met with Lancaster City Council to discuss plans to convert some of the park into a Freeport-style shopping village.
"There are not enough visitors to Morecambe to sustain (Frontierland) in its current form," said David Cam, BPB company secretary, at the time.
That September, BPB announced they were scaling down the park by dramatically reducing the number of rides and cutting jobs.
Flagship rides The Texas Tornado and The Wild Mouse/ Runaway Mine Train were put up for sale - the Tornado eventually being demolished in 2000 and The Mouse sent to Southport.
Wasteland
As for poor old Frontier Fred, he ended up in a store room at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Supermarket giants Morrisons then bought the site and were granted planning permission to build the proposed retail village in 2001 after a public inquiry. But now it is 2004, Morrisons are struggling to find tenants for their project, and so still the wasteland remains.
On a positive note, the arcades were recently refurbished and the Ranch House is still especially busy at weekends.
But Frontierland itself, once a colourful and busy place of fun, is now an eyesore.
The front of the one-time fairground is now sealed off from the promenade by yards of unfriendly fencing, while that ever-present mountain of rubble looms large over its horizon, a permanent reminder of what used to be there.
Now the council, as reported in The Visitor recently, is pushing for the frontage to be tidied up "to hide the site behind", at least until a decision is made on its future.
Steve Riley, for one, would certainly welcome some positive developments, after witnessing years of decay and decline.
"I don't really care what they do with it now, as long as they do something," he said, staring out onto the 10 acres of dirt, puddles and stone.
Once themed on the Wild West, how sad it is now Frontierland is little more than a bleak and desolate desert.



10 March 2004
Yogs
 
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Sad Tale of Former Frontierland

Postby porterm » 12 Mar 2004, 16:46

Dear Yogs (guess that's a nickname),

I found your reflective piece on the misfortunes of the former premier amusement park, Frontierland, to be very well written. Sadly, I visited the park in 1987 after seeing it promoted, I believe, on a sign at Blackpool Pleasure Beach (it said something like "now try our other funspot"), however from the outside as I drove past I didn't think the park looked very large. I now severely regret never having ventured past the seafront saloon bar-style entrance plaza.

I would have loved to have ridden the Texas Tornado, now sadly in pieces I believe. I remember the park being featured on a children's TV show once, around the early nineties.

Very soon, if history repeats itself, we could be witnessing the sad decaying site experience on both Folkestone and Margate seafronts. I can somehow sympathise that Folkestone doesn't really care too much for its somewhat smaller Rotunda park, but with its history, Margate's Dreamland I believe is in a very different category.

With the current media-highlighted problems at the Disney organisation, I just thought how would people in America react to a sudden proposal to close Florida's Disney World? Surely this would prompt a raucous outcry and promote immediate lobbying to stop any adverse redevelopment to the site. I know this proposition, one would probably think is highly unlikely, but in the present climate maybe not so uneventful. However, I could never really see Disney giving up on their flagship park in America.

I just mentioned the above to contrast our current amusement park troubles over here. I fully agree with you that to remove an amusement park with real potential is surely a criminal act, not just to prevent future generations from the pleasure experience it can offer. The whole town, as you tragically witness, in Morecambe can sadly deteriorate around the lost facility.

Also, I read with interest that the American Six Flags park operator is planning to sell its European parks to raise money to support potential losses to concentrate on its American parks future investment. Also it is rumoured that it is to sell its Six Flags Worlds of Adventure park in Ohio to nearby Cedar Parks LP, who coincidentally run the highly successful Cedar Point park. I personally do not like the sound of this takeover as I always believe real park competition is a great stimulant for park rivalry, generating the development of new attractions. You just need to watch the development of Thorpe Park and Chessington to see what happens when one operator (Tussauds, in this case) gains overall control.

Sorry I've gone on a bit. I may plan to take a quick final visit to see the remains of Frontierland next month as I'm planning to go on a coaster trip run by the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain to BPB (or PBB as I believe it likes to be called!)

I hope Thanet District Council take the impact of Morecambe fully on-board in their assessment of Dreamland's future.

Martin
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Postby bosola » 12 Mar 2004, 17:29

Very soon, if history repeats itself, we could be witnessing the sad decaying site experience on both Folkestone and Margate seafronts


Frankly, I see the closing of theme parks as a symptom of the decline in the seaside resorts rather than a cause of it. Places like Dreamland were doomed from the time of the first package holiday to Spain. Cheap food, cheap booze and - perhaps most important - almost guranteed sunshine. All that at a cost no more than - and in most cases a lot less than - a traditional seaside holiday. Of course there are still people interested in visiting British resorts, but their numbers are so diminished now that there just isn't enough to go round, and only the biggest and best - like Blackpool - are going to attract them. That leaves the locals and those in easy driving distance who fancy the odd day out (like me), but to make up for the numbers of yesteryear we'd all need to go several times a week



When I lived in Ramsgate - and frankly I couldn't wait to get out - it was a source of amusement to me whenever the local paper carried a story about the councils plans to 'rejuvenate' the area and bring back in the crowds. Not having a personal interest in the area I was able to look more objectively, and the first thing that struck me was 'where the hell do they think these people are going to come from' - visiting us would mean they weren't visiting somewhere else so at best the problem would be moved rather than solved. Also, Ramsgate and Margate are just plain scruffy - falling revenues have taken their toll over the years and the cost of restoring them to past glory would be astronomical - an investment for which there would be little or no chance of a return.

I think it's time to accept that the holiday trade, although it will always be there to some extent, is not now and never will be the future for resorts who relied upon it in the past, it's time to put that behind you and move on. Move on where? Who knows? but the time you're spending flogging a dead horse could be better spent thinking about it.

BTW
You just need to watch the development of Thorpe Park and Chessington to see what happens when one operator (Tussauds, in this case) gains overall control.


I took the kids to chessington last year - my son still talks about it now. It was absolutely packed too. If that's what happens when one operator takes over you'll have a VERY hard time convincing my kids that it's a bad thing.
bosola
 
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My sources

Postby Yogs » 12 Mar 2004, 17:52

I was not trying to take credit for writing this piece it came from the local paper. It made me very sad indeed to read and I thought it may be of interest to you guys

I took this article from here
http://www.morecambetoday.co.uk/


See the park now here

http://www.frontierland.cjb.net/
Yogs
 
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Postby Nick » 12 Mar 2004, 19:53

Frontierland is a sad story, but I think Blackpool Pleasure Beach did everything they could to make it work. Sadly the town was dying around it.

Dreamland, on the other hand, is far from a "dead horse". The park attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, and is accessible from London. I can also confirm that two established theme park operators are interested in acquiring the site and invest in new rides and attractions. We have discussed the proposals with these operators and they are exciting. I have been assured by these experienced operators that Dreamland is certainly viable.

Thanet Council now knows that Dreamland is viable and, I hope that they will continue to resist any attempt to lose this attraction, which would spell the end of Margate not just as a holiday resort, but even as a day trip destination for the southeast of England.

Expect more news about Dreamland over the next two months...

Nick
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Postby Graeme » 14 Mar 2004, 15:09

Of course foreign holidays have meant less people spend a week at UK resorts, but that's been happening for decades and I feel the effects of this must have settled years ago. We have been left with a number of resorts that are perfectly successful as day trip destinations. The amusement parks at Southend, Great Yarmouth and Hayling Island have all spent significant money over the past two or three years. I can name a great many more seaside amusement parks and piers that are extremely successful, even ones like Clacton that don't have as much as they used to.

Just because the current owner of Dreamland may want to sell the land, by no means does that mean an amusement park isn't viable. Sure, the land might be more profitable to sell than to use as an amusement park, but the concern of Thanet Council should be what's best for Margate, not the business interests of any individuals. If the Scenic Railway operators say it's viable and two separate potential Dreamland operators say it's viable, I'm convinced it's viable! :)
Last edited by Graeme on 14 Mar 2004, 15:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Dreamland

Postby cliffc » 14 Mar 2004, 23:02

As an outsider who only discovered Margate quite by chance last august while staying overnight at Ashford following a visit to Disneyland in Paris, and looking for a day out we just drove along the coast and saw the signs for Margate.
I then posted a message in these forums slateing both Dreamland and the railway, which led to some constructive replys, and to me coming round to the side of the people who are trying to save it.
On the day we visited the day was one of the warmest days of last summer and there were plenty of people around, although Dreamland its self was almost empty there were riders on the railway and that was about the only ride with anyone rideing.
Whoever takes over the running of the site and lets hope the council see the light and dont allow the site to be turned into another awful supermaket or whatever, are going to have to do a lot of work to bring the park into the 21st century, it would proberly be easyest for the new owners to all but demolish or dismantlle all of the rides (baring the railway of course), and then bring in newer attractions along with referbished older rides, at the same time improveing the other park infrastucture such as paths, side shows, bars and even the arcade and toilet facitlitys to bring thease up to standard.
Finaly thay need to spend heavely on publicity for both Dreamland and Margate itsself, in the Travel Inn we stayed at there were lots of adverts for the other south coast resorts such as Brighton & Southend for example this will be requred to get the customers to travel from London, and other towns and citys in the catchment area, as well as visitors from both the UK and abroad, after all Margate has a crowd puller in the railway, but we did not know about its existance and had I not followed the coast and the road signs we problerly would still not know about it. After all Dreamland and the railway can only be viable if there are bums on seats so to speak to spend the cash. The council must also take some of the blame for the lack of publicity and thay must help the new operators by pushing out publicity for the town as whole to compliment any publicity that the Dreamland operators put out.
Then all it needs is the good weather to get those people flooding through the gates of a new revitelised Dreamland with rides and attractons both old and new that will appeal to young and old alike.

Cliff C
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Postby AJ » 14 Mar 2004, 23:37

Totally agree that publicity is the key for Dreamland. Back in the days of Bembom Brothers everyone in the south east knew about the White Knuckle Park. I always remember walking past our local railway station and stopping to look at the posters for the park. They used to sell combined rail and ride tickets and I live about 110 miles away from Margate. Last year at the Convention there were leaflets on places to go and there was a leaflet for Southends Adventure Island and yet nothing for Margate!!!!!

And one of the most crazy things going is that it has never been easier to get to Margate. The roads from London are soooooooooo much better, it used to take forever to get there along the single lane A roads and if you got caught in traffic forget it especially as a kid!
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