Reader Adrian Burke's picture of the wheel

Council tears up contract with wheel operator

Report by James Franklin , Reporter Friday, June 29, 2012
7:00 AM

THE Wheel of Weston will not return to the resort after the council tore up the contract with its operators.

The attraction was due to return to town on three occasions this year, but with operator Great City Attractions failing to return on each occasion, the council has scrapped that agreement, saying the firm has breached its contract.

The authority has moved fast to find alternative attractions for the Beach Lawns site, previously occupied by the wheel, and has now announced that a giant log flume will take its place.

The wheel was suddenly dismantled and taken away in November, when it was relocated to Glasgow.

At that stage the council said it believed it would return this year, with council executive member for tourism Felicity Baker saying the authority worked closely with Great City Attractions.

But despite the attraction owners saying the wheel would return in Easter and April, the Mercury was told by North Somerset Council that it was still hopeful it would return.

But this week the authority has told the Mercury that it was taking steps to tear up its contract with Great City Attractions.

A spokesman also confirmed that a contract had been agreed for a firm, understood to be Danter’s Attractions, to run the log flume and a carousel at the Beach Lawns site from July onwards.

The flume, the only one of its type in the UK, features two water slide drops of 7 metres and 11 metres, and has the capacity for up to 600 people to use it an hour.

A council spokesman said: “The wheel was due to come back to Weston on April 28 and the company has therefore breached its contract with us.

“We have received nothing from it to say whether they are coming or not.

“We are not prepared to leave this prime site empty for the summer, so have taken steps to terminate our contract with Great City Attractions.

“In place we have now secured a contract with a log flume operator and look forward to the arrival in July.”

The Mercury contacted Great City Attractions for a response, but had not received one by the time of publication.

● This photo of the wheel was taken by reader Adrian Burke last year, and sent in to us through our iwitness site. The site allows our readers to contribute their own pictures and stories. To get started, all you have to do is log in at http://weston.iwitness24.co.uk

5 comments

log flume seems like a great idea , main problem is most visitors stay behind the new sea wall and around the pier entrance . Anything that is off this track struggles to get enough passing trade. There is no magic wand as when its very sunny people all sit on the beach. All these large sites are fighting a very difficult battle , long term they will all be owned or rented by big names but not till the recession is over and many ordinary business people go bust. Well done to whoever got the log flume .

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andreas macrides

Friday, June 29, 2012
I think that most people knew this was coming! However at least there is some replacement on offer and surprisingly it includes water! I thought NSC were anti anything to do with water on the seafront! The Danters are shrewd operators though, and if this is the flume that appears at several shows nationwide, I would image that it shall operate until near the end of the school holidays and then removed as I thinks it usually appears at the Great Dorset Steamfair on the first weekend in September. Still dodgy though, having an attraction on a major traffic island, maybe worth shifting it to the lawn opposite the Grand Atlantic, but this was always the best site for Carters.

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TrueWestonian

Friday, June 29, 2012
how can nsc say they wont leave this prime site empty when they seem to be closing this town down and turning it into a very expensive car park as for a liog flume they wont stay when they realise they wont be making money but good luck to them

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gruf69

Friday, June 29, 2012
These things go where the money goes, I'm afraid. It was a great attraction and I used it a couple of times for photography but I tell you during weekdays there were simply no paying customers there. It all boils down to the bottom line - sad but the way of the world. Don't hold out much hope for this 'flume' either.

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shameless contrarian

Friday, June 29, 2012
Amazing, NSC actually secures an attraction which is the first of its type in this country. Only question I have is: how long is the log flume going to be in Weston before it is shipped off elsewhere???

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Teddy

Friday, June 29, 2012