Castle hits visitor target ... but price of tickets to go up

IT REOPENED UNDER COUNCIL CONTROL AFTER FAILURE OF TRUST

NOTTINGHAM Castle has hit its target of 200,000 visitors in its first year under the control of the City Council – but ticket prices are set to rise.

The historic site was taken over by the Labour-run council last year and reopened in June after Nottingham Castle Trust collapsed in November 2022. The council had set a “more realistic” annual visitor target of 200,000, one-third lower than the trust’s original hopes of 300,000.

During a meeting on Wednesday, council leader David Mellen confirmed that the target had been met. He also revealed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that ticket prices would be going up, although the new pricing structure is yet to be confirmed.

Currently, an annual pass costs £12 and children under 15 can enter for free.

“We have this last weekend reached the 200,000 visitors that was required to make a reasonable business case for the castle,” he said. “That is three months early because it was to be done by the end of June.”

The reopening and stabilisation of the castle was one priority in the authority’s Strategic Council Plan. A refresh of the plan was approved at the full council meeting on March 4, with dozens of priorities shelved due to budget constraints.

The Labour group’s manifesto from the May 2023 local elections, which saw the party confirmed as Nottingham’s majority administration, includes several pledges. Councillor Mellen has stated that seven of these promises have been fulfilled, including the reopening of Nottingham Castle and maintaining some free public toilets, such as those at Broad Marsh Bus Station.

However, 99 are still in progress and 12 have been “parked”. These 12 include investing in Nottingham’s vibrant arts and culture scene, seeking funding for heritage restoration projects in the city centre (including the Council House), protecting the benefits and welfare advice service, launching an anti-poverty strategy, and bidding for UK City of Culture 2030.

Councillor Mellen explained that these 12 have not been included in the council plan because they are currently unaffordable.

He said: “It does not mean we are forgetting about them, it means we are putting them in a separate document to say, and I think this needs to be reviewed every year, at the moment we haven’t got resources for them. But then, sometimes resources become available that we did not think would happen. I give the example of the Streets for People money.

“We didn’t think we would get that money but all of us in our ward have several hundred thousands of pounds to do work we didn’t think we would be able to.”