Bournemouth bids the balloon goodbye

Posted on Friday 3rd March 2017

Bournemouth bids the balloon goodbye

A joint decision has been made between Bournemouth Council, the Lower Central Gardens Trust and S&D Leisure(Europe) Ltd to not renew the contract for the Bournemouth Balloon in the coming year.  This comes after a report, taken to the Lower Gardens Trust Board in January, outlined that S&D Leisure could no longer commit to continuing to run the balloon under the available contract, after it was damaged in June 2016.  Although all efforts have been made to work with S&D Leisure to continue with the balloon, they have decided not to continue due to increasing operating costs. 

The Council and the Lower Central Gardens Trust understand the position of S&D Leisure and have accepted that they will no longer be operating the balloon. Work will start shortly to return The Gardens to grass for the summer season. 

Michael Rowland, Head of Parks Development, said:

“We are sorry to see the balloon leave the Lower Gardens after more than fifteen years of service, we are working closely with S&D Leisure to remove fixtures and fittings from the space with minimal disruption.  The Lower Gardens will be reinstated for the upcoming Summer season, and no decision about the future of the site will be made before careful consideration, time and consultation with both the community and heritage organisations has been made.”