Staffordshire theme park set for £10m upgrade
A STAFFORDSHIRE entrepreneur has unveiled plans for the final phase of the £10m redevelopment of the county’s WaterWorld tourist attraction today.
Mr Chaudry, who has starred in the Channel 4 series ‘Secret Millionaire’, plans to build two water’s edge restaurants, a new ‘beach’ area with special lighting that imitates sunlight, a spa centre including beauty treatments, saunas and Jacuzzis, a new health and fitness club, including the first ice cave in the UK, sun decking and an interactive play area for youngsters.
WaterWorld, which is already the most popular aqua attraction in the UK, will expand to cover an additional 35,000 sq ft, making a total 105,000 sq ft.
The first phase of the development has included Little Gym, Lady Zone, Subway, Café Bar and merchandising outlets.
Mr Chaudry, who represents the Destination Staffordshire tourism and marketing partnership, has championed the need for investment in the Stoke area for many years.
“I witnessed the decline and decay of Stoke-on-Trent in the 1980s and 1990s as the coal pits and steel industry closed and the ceramics industry waned. The grim industrial environment is now changing dramatically,” he said.
“This redevelopment is a fantastic opportunity to bring life into this problem area, open up the canal side in Stoke-on-Trent for all to enjoy and provide local employment.”
His future plans for the leisure complex include the development of a secret winter tourist attraction and building a hotel and self-catering accommodation so that WaterWorld can tap into the growing short-break market and become an all year round leisure resort.
Mr Chaudry is one of the UK’s top 100 Asian business people. In 1999 he used his property investment business to finance the purchase of the loss-making Waterworld theme park from Rank Leisure.
Within one year he made the business profitable and in three years the loans had been repaid.
