What impact has Santas Magical Kingdom at the Hop Farm had on Bewl?
SHK: I think the price differential would have been noticed by the public. I think the way the Hop Farm have done it, in not including food and not including skating (in the ticket price) is probably a sensible model because some people may not want to go there and eat and some people may not want to skate. That’s the lesson that Lapland might learn from Peter (Bull, Hop Farm owner)’s great skill as a showman. It’s inevitable that if Lapland has had 40,00 people and Santa’s Magical Kingdom 30,000 that a good body of that 30,000 has come directly from Lapland. But it’s been a very tough year for a lot of people; people are still nervous, I know I am. At £150 for a day out, some people would do it but not everybody can afford to. IR: What do you think are the problems in Tunbridge Wells? SHK: On the one hand there is no doubt that at midnight a new monster emerges from people who over the past few hours were previously totally sane people, and the situation becomes more volatile and the
