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Tag: England

British Airways i360 opens on 4 August

The British Airways i360 in Brighton, the world’s tallest moving observation tower, will open on Thursday 4 August.

The operator of the attraction, which is located on Brighton’s sea front, says that visitors will “glide up the tower in a fully enclosed futuristic glass viewing pod to admire the unfolding views across Brighton and the south coast”.

During the day, ‘flights’ will take 20 minutes (from leaving the ground to returning to it). After 6pm the pod transforms into the Nyetimber Sky Bar serving the finest drinks from the region. These evening flights will take 30 minutes.

Pre-booked group visitors will benefit from priority entry and discounts and/or group free places. The attraction says that a visit will last around an hour. This will include a ‘pre-ride experience’, the flight itself, and time in the shop and exhibition.

Ticket prices for groups of 15 or more are £13.50 for adults, £11.25 for Seniors aged 60 and over, and £6.75 for children aged 4 to 15 inclusive. Children under 4 travel free.

Tour operators planning to take regular groups may be eligible for a travel trade account. For more information email groups@britishairwaysi360.com

Conceived and designed by Marks Barfield Architects, creators of the London Eye, the attraction opens almost exactly two years to the day from the moment the project team put the first spade in the ground to begin construction.

Architects David Marks and Julia Barfield say: “After two years of intense groundbreaking architectural and engineering work on Brighton beach, we are delighted to announce the forthcoming completion of British Airways i360 with tickets now on sale to the public for flights from Thursday 4 August. The team behind the British Airways i360 has gone beyond the call of duty and created a new landmark they should all be proud of.

“Built at the landward end of Brighton’s historic West Pier, the British Airways i360 is a modern day vertical pier which invites visitors to ‘walk on air’ and gain a new perspective on the city, just as the West Pier invited Victorian society to ‘walk on water’.

“The glass viewing pod, ten times the size of a London Eye capsule and capable of carrying up to 200 passengers, will slowly rise up a slender steel tower to a height of 450 feet to provide passengers with stunning views of Brighton and Hove and a beautiful panorama of the south coast and English Channel.”

Lynne Embleton, British Airways director of strategy and MD Gatwick, says: “The British Airways i360 is now ready for take-off and we are looking forward to welcoming visitors on board. Brighton is home to thousands of our customers and colleagues and we fly to more than 65 destinations across the globe from Gatwick so we are delighted to be involved in this exciting attraction that we know UK and international visitors will love.”

Tickets can be booked at www.britishairwaysi360.com or by calling 03337 720 360 (a £2 surcharge will be added to each booking made by telephone). Bookings can also be made at the British Airways i360 ticket office from Thursday 4 August.

www.britishairwaysi360.com

The British Airways i360 in Brighton opens on 4 August

Emmerdale studio tours to start this summer

The studio complex in Leeds where ITV soap Emmerdale is filmed is to open for tours later this summer.

The Burley Road complex, situated just over a mile west of the city centre, will be home to the ‘Emmerdale Studio Experience’, giving groups the opportunity to see behind the scenes.

The new attraction is being delivered by Continuum Attractions in partnership with ITV. Continuum Attractions is the company responsible for the successful ‘Coronation Street The Tour’ in Manchester, and the introduction in 2015 of group visits to Emmerdale’s exterior filming sets on the Harewood Estate between Leeds and Harrogate.

Continuum Attractions says: “Continuum Attractions is pleased to confirm the intent to deliver the ‘Emmerdale Studio Experience’, in partnership with ITV. Subject to planning, the Burley Road Studios in central Leeds will open to the public in the late summer of 2016 to showcase a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of one of ITV’s best loved soaps. Following the resounding success of ‘Coronation Street The Tour’, Continuum Attractions is delighted to continue its working relationship with ITV.”

Details of how to buy tickets will be released in May.

Continuum Attractions operates an award-winning portfolio of visitor experiences across the UK including Emirates Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, The Real Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh, York’s Chocolate Story, Oxford Castle Unlocked and The Canterbury Tales. The company is also working with The Royal Mint in South Wales to deliver ‘The Royal Mint Experience’, a new factory experience and interactive exhibition that’s due to open on 18 May.

Emmerdale's interior filming sets are due to open to the public later this year
After the exterior filming sets of ITV soap ‘Emmerdale’ were opened to groups in 2015, the interior filming sets in Leeds are due to open to the public later this year

Major expansion at Beamish

Beamish Museum is to build a 1950s town and a Georgian coaching inn as part of a major £17m expansion that looks set to attract an additional 100,000 visitors to the region each year. Construction of what the attraction describes as the single largest project ever undertaken, is due to start at the end of this year and will include a replica Weardale farm.

Richard Evans, Beamish Museum Director, says: “We’re really delighted with the news that our exciting development plans for Beamish over the next four years now have planning approval. It is a real milestone in the 45-year history of the region’s living museum. This is the single largest project ever undertaken at Beamish. It will enable us to create a range of new exhibits for visitors to enjoy across the museum site, offering people new ways to experience the history of the North East.

“We will continue to focus on what makes Beamish the special place that it is, using our collections to tell the story of everyday life in our region through time. The new development will demonstrate a time of huge change for the people of the North East and will ensure Beamish tells the story of a period still in living memory, just as was the case when the living museum was first founded back in the 1970s.

“By 2020 we hope to welcome some 750,000 people every year, including nearly 400,000 tourists from outside the region, which will have a huge impact on the economy in many communities. We will also create around 95 new jobs and 50 apprentices at the museum, meaning we should be employing around 500 people by the end of this decade.”

Beamish is working with communities across north east England and has received initial support for a £10.75m Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The 1950s town plans include a cinema, houses, a cafe and aged miners’ homes. The 1820s expansion will feature a coaching inn, where Beamish’s nationally-significant Georgian collections will be displayed, a windmill that was shipped from Sweden to Blyth, and a replica of the home of Joe the Quilter.

Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, brings history to life, with the unforgettable sights, sounds, and delicious tastes of the past at 1820s Pockerley, 1900s Town and Pit Village and 1940s Farm. Visitors to the 350 acre open air museum discover fascinating stories, meet costumed folk and explore homes, shops and other buildings – many of which were moved to the museum from across the region.

For more information, go to www.beamish.org.uk

 

A cinema will feature in the new 1950s town to be built at Beamish
A cinema will feature in the new 1950s town to be built at Beamish

 

Galloway Travel Group acquired

Bernie Miles, who received the Coach Monthly Special Award at the 2015 National Coach Tourism Awards for his outstanding contribution to coach tourism, intends to retire this November as the acquisition of Galloway Travel Group is completed
Bernie Miles, who received the Coach Monthly Special Award at the 2015 National Coach Tourism Awards for his outstanding contribution to coach tourism, intends to retire this November as the acquisition of Galloway Travel Group is completed

Suffolk-based Galloway Travel Group has been bought by Eastern Transport Holdings (ETH), a new holding company directed by Bill Hiron, the managing director of Stephensons of Essex, and past president of the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK.

It is understood that the process of acquisition will be completed by 30 November, with managing director David Cattermole, commercial director John ‘Bernie’ Miles, and financial director Roger Stedman intending to retire from the business.

With immediate effect, Galloway’s directors are delegating day-to-day involvement in the business to their existing management team of Richard Smith, Dan Rogers and Charles Pratt.

Galloway will continue to trade as a stand-alone business, distinct from other operations of ETH, operating from its existing head office and operating base at Mendlesham in Suffolk.

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