HOLIDAYMAKERS boosted numbers on the Jersey Eye over Battle of Flowers week, but it has still failed to attract enough local residents to make it pay.
Edward Mellors, from the family firm which brought the 60-metre giant ferris wheel to the Island in June at a cost of £160,000, said that they were preparing themselves to make a £30,000 loss on their Jersey venture.
He said that they were disappointed and surprised at how the wheel had failed to get the same reaction from the public in the Island as it did wherever it was placed around the United Kingdom.
In view of the slower trade than expected, they had reduced the team working at the wheel from six to four.
Article posted on 22nd August, 2008 - 2.57pm
12 Article Comments
now there’s a surprise…
It is hardly surprising that it has run at a loss. It’s just too expensive. If they brought the price down for the rest of the season to £2 a head and just let you go around twice, instead of the 10 minute ride you get at the moment, they would make their money back very quickly I am sure.
It shows that as ‘locals’ we are not as gullible as we look. £7 to look over town and the beach for 5 minutes, what a con.
The same old story - narrow minded short sighted greed!! Let’s go to Jersey they have loads of money - bang the price up.
Well good! I think it is an eyesore and should not have been allowed in the first place, and with losses like that I bet they won’t want to be here too long. Fair well!
Well, if I wanted to go look at the rooftops of St Helier I would go to Fort Regent or the top of a car park… it’s free….
Go to Fort Regent and get views of St Helier and St Aubin’s Bay for free. The organisers were taking us for mugs if they thought thousands would pay £7
They are only going to make a loss…. Therefore surely the sensible thing would be to close early and remove it before the Battle of Britain. I have been asked a couple of times to go on however I refuse to pay for the same view as Westmount / Fort Regent.
Who is going to pay £7? They should have only charged £2 then more people would have had a go. It cost more to go on this than on a fairground ride.
Steve,
I believe it was Jersey business people that have rented the wheel and brought it over. They will have paid rent on the land, for the wheel and putting it up and down. So it will be locals that have set the price and lost out.
“Paul Talbot, of Creating1offs in Jersey, is the man behind the venture and has spent five months working on the project.” This was in JEP last May.
So is this local greed or someone local wanting to do something a bit different for his island? I would congratulate Mr Talbot on a brave move. Perhaps he is only quilty of listening too much to fellow locals saying what a great idea it would be and then not bother to use it.
The chap made and effort to do something different but didn’t appreciate how tight some locals can be…
In this time of price increses on basic needs, who in their right mind - unless they have more money then sense - would go up in this thing. A single parent with two children does not have the spare cash to spend £21 for a view that they can get for free from Fort Regent.
I just hope that they don’t bring it back next year. There are far better things to spend money on like Income Support that works and help for our OAPs who have spent their life working and now have to scrimp and save just to make ends meet. It’s disgraceful.
The operator is both greedy and stupid. We have had numerous guests visiting over the summer - not one of our visitors has been prepared to pay £7. After the Battle of Flowers day parade, when there were hundreds of people about, only a dozen people were queuing to go on the Eye. If they charged £3 per person, the gondolas would have been packed. I know we would have on loads of times if it was a sensible price.