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"Transperience" - Bradford's transport museum, which took 12 years and nearly £12 million of public money to develop, has closed its doors this month with debts of £1 million, only 2 years after it opened.
The financial disaster was predicted as long ago as 1987 by consultants Touche Ross, whose feasibility study into the project concluded: "Cash at the turnstiles would not be enough to fund a West Yorkshire Transport Museum scheme".
These sentiments were echoed by West Yorkshire Transport Trust member Councillor Stanley King earlier this year when he said: "I have always had my doubts the income could support these overheads".
It's a pity Cllr. King did not express his doubts 10 years ago before nearly £12 million was wasted on a scheme that many saw as destined to fail.
The idea of Transperience grew out of a West Yorkshire County Council project in the early '80's. When West Yorkshire closed down in 1986 it left as part of its legacy a blueprint for a transport museum, based on disused railway land in Bradford's Low Moor but linked by rail to the Spen Valley with it's complementary canalside attractions. £1 million was set aside for the project and the West Yorkshire Transport Trust was formed to manage the scheme.
The Trusts' first job, prophetically it now turns out, was to engage management consultants Touche Ross to conduct a feasibility study into the scheme. Their report concluded that the Trust only had resources for a limited project which could not hope to attract enough paying visitors to break even.
Trust chairman Cllr David Sheard rubbished their findings and claimed: "I think we must be more adventurous and concentrate not just on the museum aspect but on creating a tourist attraction".
The project went ahead.
It took another 8 years of rapidly rising costs and a massive cash injection of £8 million of government money before Transperience - a "Transport Discovery Park" - finally opened in July 1995. Despite its unprepossessing situation between a motorway and a working pig farm, its complete lack of public transport, its low key marketing and its distance from any town centre expectations of public interest ran high.
Within 12 months the Yorkshire Post was reporting: "Transport Museum in Trouble as Visitors Stay Away". Of the predicted 1/4 million visitors expected in the first year less than 1/3 had turned up; half the staff were made redundant and in October 1996 Transperience shut down for the winter.
By February this year the trustees had announced debts of £1 million and were seeking a High Court administration order to allow them to appoint Coopers and Lybrand to take over the control. The park opened again this summer with the Telegraph and Argus occasionally announcing that the project had "turned the corner" or that plans were underway for an unnamed buyer to rescue the museum and build a theme park in its place. By this October however the buyer had dropped out and once again Transperience is "shut for the winter".
KDIS visited the site last week and found one lone family peering through gaps in the fence in an attempt to see what they were missing.
"Do you think it will ever re-open?" they asked. The answer has to be "I doubt it".
1983 West Yorkshire County Council unveil plans for a West Yorkshire Transport Museum.
1986 West Yorkshire County Council closes but leaves £1 million in trust.
1987 Consultants express doubts about viability of the scheme.
1990 Developers announce plans for the site costed at £15 million.
1991 Projected costs spiral to £20 million. Developers hope to attract hotels, restaurants, pubs and shops to the site.
1992 £8 million - the second biggest ever City grant - injected into the scheme by central government.
1994 Trustees pledge 600 jobs to be created.
1995 Transperience opens with a staff of just 81.
1996 Closes for winter with £1 million debts after just 80,000 people visit in first year.
1997 Coopers and Lybrand nominated to take over the administration from the trustees.
1997 October 12, Closes again.
When Transperience first opened in July 1995 entrance charges were set at £6 for adults and £3.50 for kids. In an attempt to attract more punters these were later dropped to £4.95 and £2.95.
In the meantime other Bradford museums have seen the introduction of entrance fees. At one popular local attraction last week KDIS was told that there had been a significant drop in visitors since staff were forced to charge. Certainly the day we visited there weren't enough people in the place to pay the wages of the woman selling the tickets.