Here's which rides and attractions won't be re-opening at Wicksteed Park

Those who visit Wicksteed Park when it fully re-opens may notice a few rides and attractions are no longer there.

The popular Kettering park, which today announced its plans to open when lockdown restrictions are eased, is removing some attractions ahead of its re-opening.

A spokesman for the park, which saw the firm which ran its leisure facilities go into administration last year, said the attractions had become 'too costly or inefficient to run'.

The rides and attractions that are being removed are:

- The Clip 'n' Climb (which required visitors to pay an additional fee on top of the ride wristband

- The zipwire (which also required visitors to pay an additional fee on top of the ride wristband

- The racing cars

- The monorail

Rachel James, Wicksteed Park’s head of sales and marketing, said: “This is an incredibly important year for us for lots of reasons and first and foremost we are so thankful that we are still here, and grateful to the people who have helped ensure that this is the case.

“We are still finding our feet in terms of recovering from the effects of the pandemic and have had to make some hard financial decisions affecting a small number of our attractions, some of which were popular with visitors, some not so popular.

“But we are working hard to make the park a better place to visit in every way and hope people are looking forward to coming back to see us as much as we are looking forward to welcoming them.”

Work has begun on the building of a new meerkat enclosure which is fully accessible for all visitors.

The park says it is hoping to improve its car parking operation by outsourcing it to a private company.

The new system will take away the parking barriers to help aid traffic flow in and out of the park and along Barton Road.

The simplified system for ride tickets introduced during the park’s limited opening last summer will also be retained, meaning tickets will be one ticket per ride, priced at £2.50.