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Report - - Camelot Theme Park - Feb 2015 | Leisure Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Camelot Theme Park - Feb 2015

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Bigian88

The Massive Mancunian
28DL Full Member
The park opened in 1983 and was operating seasonally until late 2012. The park was based on the story of 'Camelot, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'. The local area was once covered by the largest lake in England Martin Mere, which was first drained in 1692 by Thomas Fleetwood of Bank Hall in Bretherton. (The story is that Sir Lancelot's parents King Ban of Benwick and his queen Elaine escaped to Lancashire from their enemies in France. Elaine went to help King Ban who had fallen and put Lancelot down on the shore of the lake, by where he was abducted by nymph Vivian who vanished into the waters of the lake with him. Vivian brought up Lancelot and when he went to King Arthur's court he was knighted as 'Sir Lancelot of the Lake'.) Martin Mere has been locally known as the 'Lost Lake of Sir Lancelot' following the myth.

In 1986 it was taken over by The Granada Group and operated by them alongside its now defunct sister parks American Adventure and Granada Studios Tour. In June 1998 the park was subject to a management buyout in which the park went to Prime Resorts Ltd.

Camelot had seen a downturn in attendance in later years, in 1995, Camelot's attendance was 500,000 visitors throughout the season. In 2005 Camelot's attendance was only 336,204 visitors.

In a 2006 survey of healthy food available at leading tourist attractions in the UK, Camelot came joint bottom scoring only one point.

In February 2009, Prime Resorts announced that the park was in receivership and would not reopen for the 2009 season. The hotel was bought by Lavender Hotels in March 2009, and in April 2009, it was announced that a buyer had been found for the park and that it would reopen in May 2009.

The theme park was purchased by Story Group, a construction company based in Carlisle and leased to Knight's Leisure who run the park. The site's future remains uncertain as the new owner is planning to redevelop the site. Current indications are that this will be a housing development.

The closure of the park was announced by its operator, Knights Leisure, in November 2012, the managing director blaming poor summer weather and events such as London 2012 and the Queen's Jubilee for declining visitor numbers. Today, some rollercoasters were sold (for example Whirlwind bought by the German "Skyline Park"), others rust in the abandoned park.

An application to build 420 houses on the site by owners Story Group was unanimously rejected by Chorley Council in August 2014 as the development was not permissible within the Green Belt

Source: Wikipedia



This was a spontaneous visit with 2 friends. My expectations were fairly low which lead to a nice surprise when we turned up on site, although most of the rides and attractions had disappeared - most of the other building remain (though heavily tagged with graffiti).

speaking of which, it was a little surreal being there - a little like being in school after hours during parents evening, it just feels a little odd.

The irony is we ran into about 20-25 other like-minded individuals whilst we were there, perhaps the park is busier now its closed compared to its dwindling numbers when it remained open :rolleyes:

As this was the 4th place visited on the day, we were short on time and daylight so we didn't get a chance to go around the whole park but we were able to cover most of it in the 30 mins or so we were there.


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Bigian88

The Massive Mancunian
28DL Full Member
I didn't have time to even see it let alone attempt to climb it. Almost every person we spoke to asked where it was as they wanted to climb it.
 

GRONK

Useful Idiot
Regular User
To be honest, you can't see that much from up there. Mainly trees.

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How can they miss it? It is a massive coaster.:D
 

coolboyslim

Mr Reality Hacker
28DL Full Member
True how the heck can you miss it lol. It's not far from ghost train section also worth a look.
 

KelsBurke

28DL Member
28DL Member
How did you get in, cause some people go through the gates at front but security is out and about.
 

Lavino

................
28DL Full Member
Has anyone gone around the petting farm right at the bottom end and there's some caravans tucked away around the back.
 

GRONK

Useful Idiot
Regular User
Has anyone gone around the petting farm right at the bottom end and there's some caravans tucked away around the back.

Sure have, these ones? :)
Part of the Zoo Licensing Act says that you must always have a 'Keeper' on site when not open to visitors. As they were charging people entry to the park Camelot was technically part Zoo. :P

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(Knew my diploma would come in handy).
 
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