Popular city park drops entry fees after pilot sees visitor numbers soar
The historic Parade Gardens in Bath is dropping its entry fees from April after a pilot helped attract more than 29,000 visitors over eight days.
The gardens were opened for free last autumn in an event for Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Bath Central Riverside regeneration project to trial the gardens being accessible to everyone.
Footfall exceeded expectations with more than 29,000 people visiting Parade Gardens over eight days, including 803 visitors in one hour at its peak.
The council is now trialling the removal of the entrance fee, currently £2.50 for adults and £1.50 for children and concessions, for this coming year. Fees are usually chargeable from Easter to the end of October.
The move aims to make Parade Gardens accessible and inclusive for everyone, as well as test the effect of free entry on footfall over a longer period.
The council is also planning to open the Colonnades once again for visitors during the weekend of May 30 and June 1, alongside a food and drink outlet. A coffee cart piloted at the open doors event run by Chandos Deli reported higher sales than expected.
Cllr Tim Ball said: “We are extremely proud of the iconic Parade Gardens which are renowned for their stunning flowerbed displays, magnificent views of Pulteney Weir and Bath Abbey and being the location for many romantic weddings. We are pleased to announce that we are trialling making them more accessible for everyone by removing the entrance fee this year from April.”
Cllr Paul Roper added: “Our ‘open doors’ event last October was hugely popular across the board, with some visitors expressing support for making Parade Gardens free for everyone. Thank you to all our partner organisations who helped make the event such a resounding success. Revealing hidden histories of the Colonnades and other spaces clearly captured public imagination and we plan to build on this interest by providing more exciting activities in the gardens later this year.”
Bath Central Riverside was awarded £548,000 of grant funding from the West of England Combined Authority in 2023 with £232,000 of match funding from the council.
