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Retail & Consumer

Successful Christmas helps Alnwick Garden bloom again after pandemic knocks revenues

The chairman also hailed managers for showing 'great resilience, spirit and problem-solving capabilities' in a challenging year

The Alnwick Garden is promising a festive light trail this Christmas that is bigger and better than ever. Picture credit Fiona Mitcheson

A successful Christmas season at Alnwick Garden helped the attraction to bounce back from what it described as “one of the most challenging periods in living memory”.

Latest accounts for the Northumberland visitor attraction have been published, showing a predictable drop in revenues for the year ended March 31, having been closed for seven months of its financial year.

Revenue from admissions dropped from £2.56m to £1.44m, while total revenue dropped from £3.88m to £2.98m. Ebitda, before taking impact activity into account, fell from £122,885 to a loss of £192,605.

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The trust says that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic transformed the way it views its reserves, learning much during lockdown about the true cost of the garden when it is closed.

It said that the average monthly running cost of the garden in 2020 amounted to £236,000, with six months of costs amounting to £1.416m, and its goal now is to reach that level of reserves over the next four years.

The Trust also said that despite the strain the pandemic has placed on the tourism industry, trustees are comfortable with the financial position of the garden, which has rebounded well and is in a good position to capitalise on current staycation trends.

It has also started repayment of its CBILS loan and work on the new Lilidorei Play Village, set to open in 2023, has started.