20 C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 de heritage seaside tage Our seaside heritag Our seaside heritage Ou easide heritage Our itage Our seaside heritage seaside heritage Our seaside herita of such parks, many people would prefer to visit clean, modern, safe and standardised theme parks rather than the seemingly old-fashioned funfairs. Another issue that has been detrimental to the funfairs has been the rise in insurance premiums and the increase in compensation culture. Moreover, health and safety legislation means that many funfair owners find it impossible to make significant investment in their attractions to comply with the legislation. Last, but not least, many of the now demolished funfairs were situated in prime, sea-front locations, often using large areas of land. Until the 2007 property crash, developers had been keen to purchase this land for housing, retail and office space and were making offers that the funfair owners could not refuse. One of the most shocking closures in recent years was the sudden demise of Pleasureland in Southport. This was a significant funfair that featured the iconic Charles Paige Cyclone roller coaster alongside one of the few remaining bowl-slide-style helter-skelters. The park also hosted modern classics such as the suspended, looping Vekoma coaster (which had been branded The Traumatizer) and a blast-off tower ride branded Ice All pictures are the author’s own. Anya Chapman is a senior lecturer in tourism management at Bournemouth University. Margate’s Scenic Railway of 1920: the only Grade II* listed coaster in Britain Margate’s Scenic Railway coaster is now fenced off after a quarter of the ride was destroyed by fire in 2008. Blast. Pleasureland was closed by its owners, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, in September 2006. The Traumatizer was quickly dismantled and re-erected at the Pleasure Beach under its new moniker ‘InFUSION’. However, it was the ad-hoc and rapid demolition of the 1937 Cyclone coaster that caused the most outrage. As workers with chainsaws set about the iconic coaster, locals launched campaigns to get listed status for the Cyclone, while protesters chained themselves to the track of the ride. However, the Cyclone’s reprieve was not to be, and by November 2006 the silhouette of Southport’s resortscape was changed forever. With so many historic rides lost during the early 2000s, there is now only a handful of iconic woodies remaining at the British coast: five coasters at Blackpool Pleasure Beach (the Big Dipper, Blue Flyer, Grand National, Nickelodeon Streak and Wild Mouse), and the Roller Coaster/Scenic Railway at GreatYarmouth. All is not lost. In 2002 Britain’s oldest surviving roller coaster, the Scenic Railway at Margate’s Dreamland was listed Grade II (upgraded to II* in 2011). Unfortunately, Dreamland was suffering from a lack of investment, and in 2005 its owner decided to close the park and sell the land to Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company for a reported £20 million. By early 2006 it was agreed that most of the site would be redeveloped into housing and retail facilities.There was a problem: in the middle of the site was the Scenic Railway, and any redevelopment of the site would have to incorporate the iconic coaster. By 2007 the Save Dreamland Campaign group had developed its own vision for Dreamland: as the world’s first heritage amusement park. Although there was a set-back in 2008 when a quarter of the Scenic Railway was destroyed by fire, the Save Dreamland Campaign, and subsequently the DreamlandTrust, have been successful in attracting public support and public funding, including Heritage Lottery Funding. In addition, many of the heritage amusement park rides are already in situ at the Dreamland site, as the trust purchased many of the iconic rides from Southport’s Pleasureland (such as the Caterpillar, Ghost Train, River Caves,Wild Mouse rollercoaster, and Fun House rides) and parts of rides fromRhyl’s Ocean Beach when they closed. If everything goes to plan, the Dreamland Heritage Amusement Park, featuring not only Margate’s, but also Southport’s and Rhyl’s funfair heritage, should open in 2014. While the Dreamland Trust is to be commended for saving so many iconic rides, many coaster enthusiasts and architectural historians remain concerned about the vintage coasters at other funfairs. In 2010 English Heritage visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach in order to assess the park’s iconic rides. The Pleasure Beach objected, claiming that listed status would impose restrictions on modification of the rides. At the end of the day, Blackpool Pleasure Beach is not a heritage amusement park, and the modern, hi-tech nature of such places would be lost to preservation and conservation. Nevertheless, these funfairs and their rides are a core part of the identity of British seaside resorts – something that apartments, office blocks and supermarkets could never provide.
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