Gobbins seaside path losing £574,000 every year since opening – ratepayers pick up tab

The News Letter can now reveal the extent to which The Gobbins has been a financial flop since it first opened – losing an average of about £574,000 per year.

The News Letter obtained the figures via a Freedom of Information request.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, which runs the attraction, is covering all the losses.

It has said that it is not expected to break even for about another two years.

That is on top of the cost of building it in the first place.

The Gobbins is a seaside walkway on the extremely rural and out-of-the-way Islandmagee peninsula.

It consists of two parts: one a series of paths near the base of the cliffs, with bridges spanning the gaps in the rock, and another path with a viewing platform up on the clifftops above that.

It had been in existence since the rule of Edward VII in the early 20th century, but sitting out on the fringes of the rough Irish Sea meant that it fell into a state of disrepair prior to World War II, and upkeep was discontinued.

The idea to revive The Gobbins was given the green light about a decade ago, and it reopened in 2015.

This involved not just re-creating the pathways, but also building a visitor centre.

When the new Gobbins re-opened, instead of letting people go directly to The Gobbins cliffs, visitors were asked to go to the visitor centre, receive a safety talk, and then get bussed almost two miles along narrow, winding roads to The Gobbins.

There is virtually no parking at the entrance to The Gobbins itself, even though you can access the top path without buying tickets (although anyone embarking on a walk along the top path will find it ends abruptly at a random field, and parts of the view are obscured by plastic fencing).

At present the centre says all tours on the lower path need to be pre-booked, with tickets costing £20 per adult (although the attraction is closed until March due to Covid).

The financial information gleaned by the News Letter is as follows.

The attraction made losses of:

• 2015/16: £537,098

• 2016/17: £621,373

• 2017/18: £610,752

• 2018/19: £619,135

• 2019/20: £482,054

The total loss is £2.87m.

The Gobbins also cost £7.5m to build in the first place.

Whilst most of that came from the EU, the old Larne Borough Council contributed to the costs too (though Mid and East Antrim council did not say exactly how much).

The council said that in 2017 it drew up “a five-year break-even plan and we are on course to achieve this; after this period, the attraction will be profitable”.

It added: “As with any new attraction, it takes time to build the brand locally, nationally and internationally.

“Three years into the five-year plan, we are firmly on track to achieve our targets, having reduced net spend by more than 20% last year, despite having to deal with significant challenges caused by poor weather, when the path has had to close, as well as the impact of Covid-19.”

Asked whether the council will shut it down if it keeps losing money at the present rate, it said: “The Gobbins is a key tourism asset for Mid and East Antrim, and Northern Ireland, and will continue to be vital to our plans for economic recovery and growth post-Covid-19.

“As outlined above, The Gobbins is on course to be a profitable attraction for our borough.”

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