Guest 660- Registered: 14 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,205
I may have missed but the new V.I.C is now open at the Museum a better place for it rather than poked in the old Town Gaol.
If you knew what I know,we would both be in trouble!
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
then maybe they can now reopen the old town goal as a tourist attraction again at a fair entry price.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
think the cost of re opening it brian has long gone, a lot of ther place/wasnt up to scratch and lots of dosh would need to be spent to re open it
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
kieth,its a tourist attraction and needs reopening asap.
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
They could fill it with criminals
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
How many times does this one come to the forfront the jail has gone for ever.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
only on paper vic,its still there in hard copy.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
It couldn't be opened by DDC mainly due to cost, but could I guess, be leased to a company like the London Dungeon, who would make a fantastic Old Town Gaol out of it - they'd make it scary.
Roger
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
exactly what dover needs roger.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Thank You Brian.
Roger
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
I was in there when it was a jail,my name is on the wall,I was waiting to go upstairs to the court house,I got done for fighting,I was in the army at the time,I lost in court, but main thing is I won the fight,
But then I got posted out of the town.
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,388
At the time it was closed, it just needed the clapped out film projectors replaced with modern projectors. They projected moving images onto the faces of the mannekins in each tableau, accompanied by audio. Believe the estimated cost was about £10,000. I suspect an entrepreneur with a flair for theatricality and a modest degree of technical nous could have made a success of running it single-handed.
It was closed down at the same time as the White Cliffs Experience and an even bigger loss, as we have frequently discussed, was that of Forties Street. This could have been dismantled and re-erected in a suitable empty building and have been a runaway success.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Absolutely right Ed. - spot on.
I undertood that the Old Town Gaol had second-hand videos to start with and that when each one went wrong, it was never repaired or replaced and so by the time all had failed, the then Council, must have thought "sod it let's close it and to save more money let's close the White Cliffs Eperience too".
I think the Grand Shaft was also closed in that swathe of cuts and so a lot of the good reasons to come to Dover (or would have been good if it had been investment not cuts - perhaps leased out like the Town Hall ?) were decimated in one fell swoop.
Roger
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Sorry Ed. I meant to say, the 1940's street was a real gem and given away for a song to somewhere like Plymouth I believe.
Roger
Guest 697- Registered: 13 Apr 2010
- Posts: 622
I've posted before about the folly of closing the former White Cliffs Experience. If it had been given a chance, we could now be reaping the rewards from the cruise ship passengers, etc.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Never went there but the 'downfall' seems to be that it never changed it's displays so wouldn't encourage return visits.
I think the current use with the library, adult ed, theatre and the Museum, Bronze Age Boat is a good layout. Would have been nice to have the Roman stuff incorporated into the complex though
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i don't think the static displays would have been much of a problem, cruise passengers normally only visit once and the w.c.e did win a major award i vaguely remember.
Guest 697- Registered: 13 Apr 2010
- Posts: 622
It could have been a fantastic attraction for the town in the long term, but the nay sayers ensured it was strangled at birth. It brought all aspects of the town's famous history under one roof with interactive displays that were second-to-none. Over time it would have needed developing, but doesn't every museum and tourist attraction.
Guest 719- Registered: 11 Jul 2011
- Posts: 443
Yorkshire Born And Yorkshire Bred
Guest 683- Registered: 11 Feb 2009
- Posts: 1,052
