Dubbed “the U.K. Disneyland” by media outlets across the world, you may have heard of The London Resort, which looks as though it could soon join England’s growing line-up of failed entertainment projects following a turbulent journey through its earliest stages of conception.
Taking direct inspiration from Disneyland Paris, The London Resort was planned as a theme park and entertainment complex that would see the total transformation of a 465-hectare plot of land in Swanscombe, Kent.
In the years since it was announced as the U.K’s next big premier entertainment offering, The London Resort has encountered an extremely rocky road through its planning, struggling to make it out of even the earliest stages of development.
With the project having seemingly been put on ice for now, let’s take a look at what we know about The London Resort…
What Is The London Resort?
First proposed back in 2012, The London Resort would see the development of two theme parks, a convention centre, an e-sports facility and more, all designed with the hopes of boosting tourism in the U.K.
The London Resort would also aim to feature the largest indoor water park in Europe alongside various other entertainment outlets such as live music venues and hotels.
This ambitious and exciting project was set to be helmed by Paramount, as they sought to open their very own theme park complex in the U.K. Initially titled the London Paramount Entertainment Resort, the theme park would have centred around a number of Paramount’s most exciting properties.
This was sadly never meant to be, however, as 2017 would see Paramount exit the project and the name officially changed to The London Resort. Although, some rights were retained that would see Paramount properties still have a presence within the parks.
Plans for The London Resort proposed the development of more than 3,500 hotel rooms, as well as two new ferry terminals to aid with transporting guests to and from the resort. The London Resort would also have seen the construction of a new road off of the A2 for this same reason.
With an initial opening date set for 2019, The London Resort had piqued the interest of many. However, in the years that followed its first announcement, very little progress would be made with this opening date later shifted to 2024.
Today, estimated costs for the proposed London Resort are reported to be between £2.5-3.5 billion, with investors hoping to see a return of £50 billion for the UK economy, should the plans ever go ahead.
In terms of what The London Resort would feature, a number of major companies were set to be involved with the project including the BBC, ITV and the British Film Institute, as well as Aardman Animations.
The London Resort was designed to lean into British culture, with productions such as Top Gear, Doctor Who and Sherlock expected to feature heavily.
As plans currently stand, a number of themed lands have also been conceptualised for this exciting new theme park such as Starport, The Jungle, The Isles, The Kingdom, The Woods, The Studio and High Street.
As recently as 2021, a Base Camp land was also confirmed for The London Resort which would feature a number of dinosaur-inspired attractions, including four different rides and a 1500-person show arena.
So, what is happening with the London Resort now and Will it ever be completed?…
So what is happening with The London Resort now?
If you’re at all familiar with the U.K.’s history of failed theme park projects, you’ll likely understand why scepticism has overshadowed The London Resort from the very start.
In 2022, it was confirmed that The London Resort had lost some of its major partnerships, including those with the BBC and ITV, however, the cracks had long begun to show long before these ties were severed.
As early as 2013, the development of The London Resort encountered trouble after a rare species of spider had been discovered on the site. Plans were made to remove the colony of spiders, although bumps in the road such as these are reported to have fuelled both the BBC and ITV’s decisions to put an end to their involvement with The London Resort.
Clearly a popular location for endangered insects, more recently in 2022, another blow was dealt to The London Resort’s progress as a rare species of bee was also discovered on the site.
Various environmental factors, as well as considerable local opposition, have also come into play. This, compounded with the site being listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest by Natural England has seen significant delays plague this seemingly doomed project.
Construction on The London Resort was most recently scheduled to begin in 2022, with a planned opening window of 2025. However, things officially came to a halt in March 2022 when it was revealed that The London Resort’s current plans had been withdrawn with the intention of re-submitting them in 2023.
However, in December of 2022, it was officially announced that CEO PY Gerbeau (who had previously served as the former vice president of EuroDisney), would step down, casting even more doubt on the project.
Then, in an unfortunate, but unsurprising turn of events in March 2023, it was announced that London Resort Company Holdings had entered administration, after accumulating more than £100 million in debt. With doubts having already been circling The London Resort, this announcement delivered the final blow to those vying for the project to be an eventual success.
Will The London Resort Ever Be Completed?
Plagued by fierce opposition, environmental hiccups and planning delays, The London Resort has failed to make any major progress in the years since it was first announced.
Prior to the news that LRCH had entered administration, the fate of The London Resort remained, at best, unclear. Following the news, however, it’s looking increasingly less likely that The London Resort will ever see the light of day.
While news of LRCH falling into financial disrepair is far from optimistic, the company themselves have confirmed that plans for The London Resort are “still running” and that they still intend to submit their latest proposal at some point in late 2023.
With the project now set to undergo financial restructuring, it’s likely that should any new plans will reemerge for The London Resort, these may be significantly scaled back from what’s been previously proposed.
For now, the future of The London Resort remains entirely unknown, although, for those who have been closely observing the project’s progress, this is likely nothing new.
While there are a number of avenues that The London Resort could now seek out, as well as a variety of different forms this entertainment complex may now take, one thing is for certain – the London Resort is unlikely to shake any of the scepticism that surrounds it until guests are walking through its ticket gates.
What do you think will happen with The London Resort? Would you have liked to visit The London Resort as it was initially planned?
