To think UK tourist attractions should stay open later in summer?

[PianoThirty]

In the UK, most tourist attractions are closed by 5pm or 6pm, even in the height of summer. AIBU to think they should stay open a lot later?

For comparison, Disneyland Paris is open until 11pm; Port Aventura theme park in Spain is open until midnight! Legoland Billund (Denmark) closes at 8pm in the height of summer, but Legoland Windsor closes at 6pm. Even minor theme parks like Plopsaland in Belgium stay open until 7pm.

This applies to all sorts of tourist attractions: thr British Museum (5:30pm), Windsor Castle (5:15pm), the Tower of London (5:30pm), Alton Towers (6pm), Gulliver’s (5pm), Peppa Pig World (5:30pm), and so on. Honourable mention for Stonehenge which manages to stay open until 8pm.

Why can’t UK places stay open later, so that we don’t have to rush around like headless chickens?

Totally agree!

We should make the most of our lovely long summer evenings.

YANBU theres parks round here which shut at 4.30... ridiculous
I can see why some museums/petting zooos and things may have to shut early because of the amount of staff needed... but parkland??
I mean its still broad daylight at 4.30 in the summer and not only that but actually the temp is going to start going down a bit from then making it more pleasant to be in a park

Went on a daytrip to fountains abbey recently. It was beyond hot but by the time it had cooled to a reasonable temp to actually walk round they were shutting the place. And I wouldnt have minded if it was just the immediate abbey and visitor centre and grounds but it was the whole park and both car parks!!

Tourism is traditionally a minimum wage sector and the people who would be keeping it open would be on minimum wage. Would a small/medium attraction pay for 2 members of staff to work or make one work the whole day?

also its only viable to keep something open if you get not only visitors to the attraction but plenty of secondary spend as well on things like food, drinks and gifts. There are whole algorithms done on tourism attractions in terms of things like dwell time (how long people stay) what they spend when they spend etc. so clearly the owners think that the additional costs of staying open aren't justified otherwise they would.

I agree. They would probably make enough money to pay the staff. I finish work at 2pm so can't go anywhere. If my local NT places were open later I'd go out for the afternoon.

Presumably because the managers don't think it will be financially worth it, and won't bring in enough money to pay the extra staff that would be needed, since the existing staff would probably also like to go home and enjoy their evenings.

I do wish museums were open later though, I used to work near lots and would have loved to be able to pop in after work. Although admittedly I'm not sure why summer is relevant for an indoor attraction, I'd have been more likely to do it in winter..

To be fair to outside attractions we don't often have warm summer evenings for weeks on end when it is pleasant to be outside into the late evening.

For other attractions I agree, quite a few of the London museums and galleries do late nights on a Friday, at the v and a they have bars and live music too, and they are great evenings, very well attended. I am not sure how small local galleries in less populated areas would do . But it would be great if they at least tried it as an experiment.

We've found this too, especially the theme park type resorts. Whenever we have left Alton Towers at 6pm (sometimes earlier depending on time of year) there has still been many people in the parks til the last minute and especially as they have their own hotels with very little else nearby people have been keen to stay til the very end. Often it is still light and nice weather when they are closing, and some rides close their lines even earlier than the actual published close time. We find that we usually skip having anything to eat in the evening there to maximise our time. I am sure others do the same, based on the lack of queues at the eateries. If they were open later, people would be more likely to spend money on food and drink too.

When we go to the Disney parks they are usually open much much later, and we spend far longer in them, eating all meals there. Consequently we spend more money in those parks.

You can't open Alton Towers later (apart from designated events like Scarefest) as the residents already complain about the noise. There isn't a reason Thorpe Park can't though!

Biggest obstacle would be getting staff that can travel at extended times. I'm guessing few have their own car. Public transport is bad enough for a 9-5, let alone a 9-9. And that's before you consider the safety aspect ...

It’s “not viable”, “too dangerous”, “staff can’t travel”... except they manage just fine in other countries.

Legoland in the cold/dark/wet country of Denmark stays open later than in the UK. They manage to find the staff, despite strict working regulations and a high minimum wage.

Are we Brits just too used to paying through the nose for terrible service?

Denmark

I know nothing about the rural bus services in Denmark. How do they compare with the UK ?

Are we Brits just too used to paying through the nose for terrible service?

I think it's the reverse. Brits seem to prefer to pay the least amount possible.

Completely agree. Chessington closes at 6pm in the summer months rather than the usual 5pm.

Like someone said, DLP stays open until 11pm at night in the summer so it’s dark enough for the firework display each night. We have always taken advantage of that.

Even in the winter months it doesn’t close until 7/8pm.

In some European countries attractions are open late for sure (e,g, Louvre late opening), but they are sometimes closed on Mon or Tue. But yes, it would make sense to cater for tourists in peak times.

I agree on principle but maybe the cost of training new staff to work late isn't worth it for them?

If people already work say 9-5 they can reasonably refuse to stay any later so they'd have to find enough people willing to work say 5-9 for minimum wage in order to make it viable, which would mean paying them to come in during the 9-5 shift or paying the 9-5ers overtime to train the newbies.

That, plus added electric costs, paying for cleaners etc to work later, budgeting the cost of more food (would it just lead to more waste) etc and I can see why they don't bother, especially when a huge number of summer evenings are in fact wet or cold and dark!

Yes lots of places are starting to do this though museums and London zoo do late nights I would personally love coffee shops to stay open late

I know some of the zoos near me close at 6pm but then there are corporate/special events taking place after hours. My DH paid for my DS to take me on a sunset safari for my birthday a couple of years ago. We were in a small group of people who were taken around the zoo in a large open sided lorry and we were able to see the animals after everyone had gone home (and feed some giraffes). We then finished the tour with a lovely meal. Perhaps there is more money for them doing that sort of thing after hours rather than staying open late?

Alton Towers can't open past 6pm because of all the miseries who live nearby who are forever complaining about it conveniently forgetting it was A: there before most of them were and B: brings a lot of money into the local economy

I agree though OP, everything seems to be open later on mainland Europe. I don't know why that is?

I've been to Lego land on a hot bank holiday before... and an announcement came over the tannoy stating that they would remain open an extra hour. Fab eh, if only other places would be more flexible.

My kids were gutted recently about being evicted from a big park at 5.30... they were having heaps of fun and it was light until 9.30

The thing that bugs be more is opening at 10. I’d go to a lot more things if they opened earlier as my toddler needs her afternoon nap and I’m not up for paying high prices for 2 hours +lunch.

Agree. Thorpe Park closing at 4pm really gets on my nerves.

I agree they should be open later, even if only for one or two days per week. Not too difficult to arrange work rosters.

As to why things are open later in mainland Europe, being one hour later than BST may be a factor.

YANBU, we went to legoland a few weeks ago and it closed at 5pm. Ridiculous. Even worse when you consider it doesn't open until 10am!

Alton Towers do sometimes extend by an hour on busy days which gets announced in the afternoon but I'd hate that if I were staff and had already sorted out transport. It's not like it's near a train station.

What gets me is all the tea shops and cafés that close at tea time!

There have been many occasions when DH and I have returned to our car at about 4.00pm after a walk, looking forward to sitting down with a reviving cup of tea and maybe (for me at least!) a slice of cake at the nearby café/tea shop, only to find it about to close! Why on earth would a tea shop close at 4.00pm? Surely that is "tea time" when lots of of people would be wanting tea?