Manchester Indoor Snow Slope Up For Sale
Manchester Indoor Snow Slope Up For Sale
Published : 10-Sep-2013 07:43
The Chill Factore indoor snow centre in Manchester, which opened six years ago, is up for sale for a price of £25m.
The complex, which has welcomed more than seven million visitors since opening, includes the UK's longest indoor snow slopes at 190 metres long.
There are currently six indoor snow slopes in the UK and around 55 operating in more than 25 countries around the world. More than 80 have been built over the past 25 years and the Tamworth Snowdome, now two decades old, is one of the oldest in continuous operation.
The UK's six centres is matched by the totals for Germany and the Netherlands, which also each have six, although slopes in those countries are up to 600 metres long.
The niche site snow365.com which follows dry slope and indoor snow centre development has estimated that more than 30 million people have been introduced to snow sports around the world through these complexes.
Most British snow centres have remained in constant ownership although the former SNO!zone in Glasgow which was run by the same companies as the centres at Milton Keynes and Hull was sold to a Scottish operator two years ago and re-branded Snow Factor (www.snowfactor.com).
There have been few new indoor snow centres built worldwide since the economic collapse five years ago. More than a dozen projects in the UK including the high profile Snoasis (www.snoasis.co.uk) at Great Blakenham and the more recent plan for Weston Super Mare (www.westonsnowdome.com) have so far failed to materialise.
However momentum is starting to build for new facilities with the company behind Ski Dubai now working on Ski Egypt despite the political problems there, a long moth-balled, decade old, $3 billion mall complex incorporating North America's first indoor snow slope, optimistically named 'American Dream' (www.americandream.com) also aiming to open at last by the end of next year and Mayor Boris backing a new complex for London near the 2012 Olympic site.
A new German snow centre close to Hamburg sponsored by the Austrian ski area Solden closed its doors in March due to financial problems but has announced it will re-open this autumn with fewer staff, a cheaper snowmaking system and a more limited operational timetable.
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