Oakwood Theme Park Closure Updates: Wales’ largest Oakwood theme park has closed after almost 40 years. Aspro Parks, the owner of Oakwood Theme Park in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, stated that it had to make the “difficult decision” because of financial difficulties and dwindling attendance.
After nearly 40 years, Wales’ greatest theme park has announced that it will close immediately. According to its LinkedIn profile, Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire employed up to 200 workers before it was saved from closure in 2008 by a £25 million investment.
However, Aspro Park’s proprietors stated that “future investment is unsustainable” and that the park will not be opening for the 2025 season due to a decline in visitors.
The company stated that since the park in southwest Wales was spared closure in 2008, it has spent over £25 million.
Aspro Parks stated that the choice was made because of “unrelenting economic challenges ahead, increases in costs, affecting all areas of the operation from ride parts to electricity costs, food and beverage inflation, increases in NLW [National Living Wage] and changes to national insurance thresholds”.
“Unfortunately, we could no longer see a sustainable way forward and will seek to improve our other parks using the assets and where possible team elsewhere,” it said in a statement.
Opened in the late 1980s, Oakwood later constructed four huge rides: Speed, Vertigo, Megafobia, and Hydro, which was renamed Drenched following a fatal accident in 2004.
After falling about 100 feet (30 meters) from the top of the ride, a 16-year-old girl passed away, and a 10-year-old kid was seriously hurt. Hayley Williams, 16, of Pontypool, died yesterday after falling 100 feet from the top of the Hydro ride at Oakwood Leisure Park in west Wales, where a police officer is on duty.
In the collision, a second youngster suffered a brain injury. Police and Health and Safety Executive officers have opened an investigation.
When it was discovered that employees in charge of the ride frequently disregarded basic safety protocols, the previous owners were fined £250,000 and forced to pay £80,000 in expenses in 2008.
With 68 leisure parks and attractions in Spain, the UK, France, Finland, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria, the Spanish-owned company claims to have over 2,000 employees.
The locations include aquariums at Hastings, where the company also owns historic caves and a castle attraction, as well as in Cheshire, Portsmouth, Newquay, Fife, Bristol, and Tynemouth.
The business also added: “All possible avenues have been explored to avoid the closure, and we fully recognise the impact of the closure on the local community and the loss that will be felt as a result.”
The owners said they felt “sadness” for the loss of “a rite of passage for many young visitors”.
The Treasury said, while it was a commercial decision, “we understand this will be a concerning time for workers at Oakwood Theme Park and their families”.
The number of workers at the Pembrokeshire location and the number of jobs that could be lost due to the closure are unknown. The local economy in Pembrokeshire will be negatively impacted by Oakwood’s closure, and there will be worries about the economic winds that have forced the closure of what was once a major player in the Welsh travel and tourism sector.