Following the permanent closure of several of its thrill rides earlier this year, Flambards Theme Park in Cornwall has today announced that the park will permanently close with immediate effect.
The park website states that this decision was made after all avenues had been exhausted and that it follows rising costs and a decline in visitor numbers throughout the 10 years since it was rescued from closure by it’s current owners. In addition to this the park shared that the Victorian Village exhibition also requires extensive remedial work and that they are exploring options to preserve this collection.
The park however did announce that on the 17th November 2024 Ferdi’s Funland, their indoor play centre will re-open as a standalone attraction.
Flambards first opened in 1976 as the Cornwall Aero Park, starting with a collection of aircrafts, models and exhibitions including a mock-up of a bomb-hit street in World War II which opened in 1984.
Following growth the park was renamed as The Flambards Experience in 1990 and saw rides including the Dragon Coaster, a log flume and the hype glide with the park continuing to add rides throughout the 90’s and 00’s.
In 2010 the park became home to the UK’s first twisting drop tower, the likes of which we’ve since seen open as Croc-Drop at Chessington and a similar attraction at Adventure Island, Southend.
In late 2013 Livingston Leisure, an investor in the park, purchased the park and continued to add additional rides and exhibitions including a HUSS Frisbee ride, a dinosaur exhibition and facilities across the park were improved.
Whilst Livingston Leisure continued to invest in the park a number of older attractions needed to be closed and visitor numbers declined, alongside this, the 2024 closure of thrill rides saw the park also reduce their ticket price significantly.
Flambards looks set to continue as a soft-play centre but with the announcement only coming today the future of the rest of the park and attractions remains to be seen.
It’s always sad to see a park close especially in part of the country where there are not many theme parks. It’s also yet another log flume lost in the UK.
This blog is a hobby project and run completely free. If you've found anything helpful then why not...
Buy me a Beer! Opens in a new window
It’s not been a great few years to Alton Towers with budget cuts, terrible ride availability and the introduction of staggered opening hours and it seems this is set to continue. In their first Winter Update posted on their blog yesterday Alton Towers announced the permanent removal of The Blade and 2 other attractions. Read […]
Yesterday was a busy day for Merlin Parks submitting planning permission applications, not only did Thorpe Park apply to finally remove The Slammer but (more excitingly), Chessington have applied for planning permission to redo Wild Asia including their new roller coaster which is expected to be themed around Minecraft. Chessington have said this will be […]
Yesterday Thorpe Park submitted planning permission to Runnymede Borough Council to remove The Slammer from the park. This follows on from Thorpe Park’s recent submission to change Amity Beach into an entertainment area (these plans haven’t made it into Runnymede’s November planning committee meeting so I expect we’ll see them discussed in December. The planning […]
Leave a Reply