Attraction Source Forum

Are there any future plans for the towers that anyone knows about? Is any more repair work scheduled or required with the listed building regulations? In the last few years some new windows have been installed as well as the conservatory restoration. (Most likely to follow regulations and improve the exterior aesthetics.)

Do you think Merlin will do anything else with the towers in the future or have they done all that they want to do?

What would you do with them if you had the choice?

Discuss!

I think they should try to add another small ish ride in the towers, or make a permanent scare maze in there. More so with the maze, if they perhaps make the TOTT a permanent attraction and then add new changes to it every year, it will be great!
However, I can see it dragging what little queue there is for Sub-Terra away... Is that a problem?

I have heard that towers are going to try another concert and more restoring of the towers will happen to spruce things up!

I'd love to see some kind of restaurant make its home in the banquet hall of the towers.

not sure how easy it would be to do that... id just much rather see something like that than another ride. id also love to see a fully furnished room from once upon a time.

i think so much could be made from the towers rather than them just being "ruins"

cookiee_munster wrote:I'd love to see some kind of restaurant make its home in the banquet hall of the towers.

not sure how easy it would be to do that... id just much rather see something like that than another ride. id also love to see a fully furnished room from once upon a time.

i think so much could be made from the towers rather than them just being "ruins"

Totally agree but can't see anything happening, unfortunately.

I think it should be left....it's a historic building and the fact that it's a ruin is part of the beauty of it.

I would like to see some kind of walk around attraction and some rooms would be fully furnished with some anomotronics in the rooms as well and you would then you will have the idea of what that room would of looked like back in the past.

I agree with some furnished rooms, it would make the towers more of an attraction.

Could it be possible that Merlin could add a Dungeons attraction into the Tower ruins, Blackpool Tower and Warwick Castle have them so surely Towers could. The ruins would be a great location for one.

I've never been to any of the dungeon attractions so can't really judge them but if there were to do that sort of thing I'd like to think that it would be tasteful and unique to the Towers rather than anything reproduced from other attractions a la madame tussauds/sealife style. If it's done well with respect like Hex, it could work. I think the history of the Towers themselves could be a draw enough for people on their own though having to add in extra attractions and storylines.

Good to hear that the gothic prospect tower is getting a much needed overhaul.

stealthsmiler wrote:I agree with some furnished rooms, it would make the towers more of an attraction.

Could it be possible that Merlin could add a Dungeons attraction into the Tower ruins, Blackpool Tower and Warwick Castle have them so surely Towers could. The ruins would be a great location for one.

IF Towers were to do that, then they may as well incorporate Hex into it and instead of walking through all the rooms on Hex , make each individual room something different about Towers history and then right at the last minute have the Hex storyline. I, However, think this would be a waste of money and would dissapoint a lot of people. The Towers themself are a thing of majestic beauty and the fact that they are an attraction on their own is great.

They should think about doing guided tours of the towers and the gardens. It would bring a lot more of the older generation in i think if they offered these. They could do it during closed season ,say once a week and pre-book only. It would make for a nice and different way to see the Towers as most people don't take the time to look round both the towers and the gardens

I think the banqueting hall should be made in to a restaurant, it wouldn't be too difficult to do, the thing which would prevent it would be due to the building being listed, as they would need planning permission from English Heritage?

But I wouldn't want a generic restaurant in there, it would have to be something which fitted into the towers and I don't really see Merlin wanting to go through all that hassle. Also when they restore it, they will have to maintain it which adds to the cost.

bensaund wrote:I think the banqueting hall should be made in to a restaurant, it wouldn't be too difficult to do, the thing which would prevent it would be due to the building being listed, as they would need planning permission from English Heritage?

But I wouldn't want a generic restaurant in there, it would have to be something which fitted into the towers and I don't really see Merlin wanting to go through all that hassle. Also when they restore it, they will have to maintain it which adds to the cost.

I think there used to be a tea room in there so they might be able to get permission to restore it to something like that (as I think most of the original panelling etc was still there at that time).

bensaund wrote:I think the banqueting hall should be made in to a restaurant, it wouldn't be too difficult to do, the thing which would prevent it would be due to the building being listed, as they would need planning permission from English Heritage?

Any changes to the towers would need listed building consent (possibly in addition to planning permission) from Historic England who have taken over some of the role formally undertaken by English Heritage.

Changes that do not adversely affect the more historically important parts of the towers, or the external appearance, should be relatively easy to get passed. They are "only" listed at grade II* (less significant than the Alton Towers Gardens or some postwar buildings such as the Royal Festival Hall and Lloyd's building in London all listed at grade I).

The poor condition of the towers should allow more flexibility as there is less of historic importance. Merlin will have conducted a survey of the towers assessing the importance of each area/feature.

I like some of the suggestions that people have made. I think it would be awesome to have a resturant in the towers. When we go to Warwick castle, we always eat in undercroft resturant because its an awesome area to eat and it would work in the towers. Also i think The Dungeons would work very well and would love to see it but with all these cutbacks......very doubtful

Having a cut down version of The Dungeons may harm the brand and make people less likely to go to the stand alone attractions. A pre-book ticket for Alton Towers can be less than double the cost of admission to The London Dungeons for a 90 min experience.

I don't think many of the visitors to AT would want to take an hour and a half out of their visit (with the exception of days when the weather is bad, at which point the dungeons would become overwhelmed).

If run well a premium restaurant could be a good source of income. If it could be opened in the evenings (post park close) it would be popular with hotel guests, especially if some form of "experience" was offered.

As someone who loves to spend at least 30 minutes every visit dragging my friends around the ruins, I personally hope they don't do much at all.
They do however need to give some places a good clean up, there's a lot of litter and graffiti in certain areas...not to mention dead pigeons. You can build a restaurant or a ride anywhere. Hex pays perfect homage to the Towers and their importance within the park in a perfectly balanced way. Anymore than that, I think would really be overkill.

I agree. The Towers are excellent to look at and to be in. All the empty rooms are fascinating and there are some great views of CCL and XS. Whenever they are open I am always touring them with the family.
Other than a little clean up, the Towers are fine.

Thats true, the towers are amazing empty. Bit more cleaning and restoration is needed and will be fine

How often are the towers open to tour? I haven't been in a few years but don't remember this option being available at the time. I may have just missed it though. It's good that they are doing tours regularly.

It's normally April- early September