Eden Project Debts of £5million, Layoffs Threaten

PasturesNew

Built, promoted and visited during the boom years .... I always thought this was a white elephant.

Allowed to float along on a poncy and fluffy cloud as people talked the talk and had their mugs in the papers. But was it ever sustainable in the form it took? Or did they just assume that it'd all be OK because they were the Eden Project and therefore cool?

Cornwall's Eden Project has announced debts of £5m.
The attraction near St Austell said up to 35 jobs were also at risk because of the economic downturn.
Last year it recorded losses of £1.78m, partly blaming the floods of November 2010 which forced it to shut for a week and its ice rink to close for a month.
A redundancy consultation is under way at the site which employs between 490 and 700 people depending on the season.
Gaynor Coley, Eden's managing director, said: "We are overall in debt about £5m - but a £5m debt on a £140m asset with a £20m turnover is a very reasonable level of debt, particularly in this climate."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-17189646

Have you been?

I did .... about 3x. I never "got it" really.

vivatifosi

I haven't been. Have only been to Cornwall once, for a wedding, didn't get the chance. They will probably treat it similarly to how libraries are used: reduce the opening hours and make greater use of volunteers, retaining as many front of house staff as possible. They could also cut back office functions and possibly utilise the services of another similar organisation or the council to do the processing of stuff such as wages. It's a shame for those that work there though.

chewmylegoff

PasturesNew wrote: »

Have you been?

I did .... about 3x. I never "got it" really.

I've been there, it was a bit rubbish I thought, although it might have been interesting for small children I suppose.

The lost gardens of heligan was better.

The best thing about the trip was the OH's spelling of "foulmouth".

wotsthat

Get yourself down this Saturday PN - they've got the locals annual pass offer for £5.

I don't quite get it either. When it was first being built I thought traffic round there would be a nightmare as all the emmets flooded down and got in my way (I'm an emmet too BTW) when visiting the MIL who lives a couple of minutes away.

However, it doesn't seem to be causing much of a stir and it doesn't seem to have much of a buzz about it. It's probably drawing in repeat visitors who are into that sort of thing as it's going to take until 2021/2 to reach maturity so it's always changing.

They definitely overestimated how popular it would be but a £5m debt doesn't seem to bad to be honest especially considering how deprived the area is and the asset value. 35 job losses are something the area could really do without.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but found it quite interesting. It rained every day the weekend I was in Cornwall, so it was useful to go somewhere that was mostly indoors.

Can't they flog a couple of the greenhouses to Londoners as second homes and raise a few million that way?

daveyjp

Been, will never go again. It's a long way for most of the population, you only go once and there isn't enough local population to visit regularly - there are only so many schools within a couple of hours drive. Considering the hype we found it a complete let down and after a couple of hours had done it and didn't feel for that amount of time it was worth the money.

The price of fuel is also having an effect as those on staycations aren't travelling as far for UK holidays.

Do Eden do a "pay once, get free entry for a year" scheme? At least with this you have a chance of picking up repeat visits from locals who may take visiting friends.

purch

It's very expensive for a 1/2 day out.

I like the Tropical Dome, the other one is boring.

The food is good, if you like veggie and don't mind eating off a slab of wood :eek:

Whenever we've been there, we usually end up somewhere like Mevagissy eating an ice-cream on the harbour by 2.00 PM

mrcow

I'm going to Cornwall with the kids.

It will cost me over £50. To look around some greenhouses. There is no way I'd take them there at that price.

mystic_trev

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I've been there, it was a bit rubbish I thought, although it might have been interesting for small children I suppose.

The lost gardens of heligan was better.

The best thing about the trip was the OH's spelling of "foulmouth".

I believe Eden's run by the same people who run Heligan, which is far more interesting. My thoughts when I visited Eden, was that it's a bloody expensive way to show how to grow a pineapple!

PasturesNew

I find it's a long way. I've never paid full price, usually on some "locals" deal and got the Annual Pass.... and never went back.

The tropical dome is the most interesting, imho .... as for the mediterranean one it's like "!!!!!! - what's the point?".

Food I've done once, under duress. Mostly I've noticed that the food's closed and/or what's open is a limited menu and it's overpriced. My advice to anybody going is "take a packup lunch in case you do find you like it there and want to sit on a bench outside and have a scoff ..... but the best bet is to find an interesting pub/similar to have a meal at instead, e.g. the Rashleigh Arms at Charlestown.

I am very surprised they have so many staff. At the top, in the shops, I think they're all private businesses, as is the food in the dome area..... so that just leaves gardeners, maintenance people, cleaners, people on the tills (3-4), bus drivers (I'm assuming they employ those, 1-2) ... and lots of ponces. Must be a LOT more ponces than I thought.

Even if I had a free ticket I'd still not get round to going because: [a] it's off the beaten track parking's good but then you have to walk or wait for the next bus down to the next level [c] bit of a hike down/up and I don't want to look a plonker on the road train [d] it's a tad dull.

They did put in some planning to have some posh eco-lodge holiday sheds at some point; I could see that going down well with the yoghurt-knitting freaks and London eco-lifestyle mouthpieces. Rent one of those, hire a bike for the week and just bobble around the local area on bikes, visiting the domes every day. Not got a beach though has it

PasturesNew

mrcow wrote: »

I'm going to Cornwall with the kids.

It will cost me over £50. To look around some greenhouses. There is no way I'd take them there at that price.

There are ways to get it cheaper, but you have to really watch out for them. Thursday's local press often has a voucher ... and various other random voucher things occasionally.

It IS very overpriced. Very, very, very.

Everybody's been now.... time to make admission £3 for all I think.