Popular Monster visitor figures beat expectations
MORE than 500,000 people visited Weston-super-Mare’s See Monster during its eightweek stay in the town, it has been revealed. Visitor numbers for the towering attraction, which became a focus of the seafront for two months this autumn, have now been officially released.
Initially, it was estimated around 200,000 people would visit the art installation at the town’s Tropicana. More than 70,000 of the visitors were schoolchildren while other people travelled from right across the UK to visit the See Monster.
Local businesses have said the arrival of See Monster - albeit delayed - helped extend the season in the town and brought in additional visitors, boosting trade. Work on the decommissioning of the former gas platform has now begun with the council focusing on the legacy left behind by the installation, which was part of the national Unboxed festival.
Plants put in place across the monster will now be transported to a new community garden being created on the Beach Lawns. The garden will be shaped like the See Monster’s helideck in a bid to ceate a legacy to the initiative.
The new garden will feature nearly 1,000 plants, shrubs and trees from the See Monster. Sleepers will be recycled to make raised beds and a new boules area for the local community.
North Somerset Council executive member for placemaking and growth, Councillor Mark Canniford, said: “The final visitor numbers for See Monster have exceeded all expectations. Businesses have fed back that tens of thousands more visitors have come to the town centre, with The Sovereign (shopping centre), in the High Street, seeing over 50,000 more shoppers come through their doors during the eight weeks of See Monster.
“The shrubs, plants and trees that we’ll use to create the new garden will leave a legacy that the community can enjoy for many years. The placement of the garden has been chosen to encourage more visits to that end of the beach, to keep the coastal planting on the seafront and to encourage more concessions in that area.
“The council is also actively looking at the future of the Tropicana and talking to interested parties.”
See Monster was one of ten major projects commissioned by Unboxed: Creativity in the UK and presented in 2022. Unboxed achieved an audience of 18 million across 107 UK locations and through digital and broadcast programming.
Phil Batty, executive director of Unboxed: Creativity in the UK, said “Like other Unboxed projects, See Monster demonstrates what’s possible when creative minds from science, engineering, art and other sectors come together.”
The Unboxed festival cost £120 million - funded by the Government and aimed to showcase the UK’s creativity and innovation to the world.
The exact cost of the See Monster installation itself is unknown. The National Audit Committee is investigating the cost of the Unboxed festival. The inquiry comes after Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairman, and Conservative MP, Julian Knight wrote to the NAO demanding an inquiry into the cost of Unboxed - four times that of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee events.