![]() Crinkley Bottom logo | |
![]() Blobbyland at Crinkley Bottom, Cricket St Thomas | |
Location | Cricket St Thomas, Somerset, Morecambe, Lancashire, Lowestoft, Suffolk |
---|---|
Status | Defunct |
Opened | 1994 |
Closed | 1997 |
Owner | Noel Edmonds |
Operated by | Unique |
Theme | Noel's House Party |
Slogan | Britain's first TV leisure park |
Operating season | Mid March-Late September (Cricket St. Thomas) |
Crinkley Bottom at Cricket St Thomas | |
Status | Defunct |
Opened | 1994 |
Closed | 1996 |
Replaced by | Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park |
Noel Edmonds' World of Crinkley Bottom | |
Status | Defunct |
Opened | 1994 |
Closed | 1994 |
Crinkley Bottom at Pleasurewood Hills | |
Status | Defunct |
Opened | 1996 |
Closed | 1997 |
Replaced | Pleasurewood Hills |
Replaced by | Pleasurewood Hills |
Crinkley Bottom, also popularly referred to as Blobbyland, [1] [2] was the operating title for a series of British theme parks operating in the 1990s. They were created by Noel Edmonds based on the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom where the Noel's House Party television programme was based. The parks operated based on the popularity of Mr Blobby. Three parks were operated under the Crinkley Bottom name in England by Edmonds' company, Unique. However, all of the parks eventually failed and were either closed or rebranded.
Noel's House Party was a popular family entertainment programme on the BBC during the 1990s. The programme was hosted by Edmonds in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom and also included Mr Blobby as a comic relief character that gained fame during the decade. Hoping to capitalise on the popularity of both, Edmonds and his production company Unique looked into ways to open a theme park based around Noel's House Party. The first theme park opened in Cricket St Thomas, Somerset in 1994. [3] It was promoted as "Britain's first TV leisure park". [4]
The first park, located in Cricket St Thomas in Somerset, was based around an existing wildlife park and the Cricket House country estate. The Crinkley Bottom park was based around Mr Blobby with a Blobby-themed house called "Dunblobbin" being the main attraction, along with several other themed areas based on British children's television including Noddy and The Animals of Farthing Wood . The park opened in 1994 and was popular. [3] In 1995, a water river ride based on children's television was opened with plans being made to open a replica of "The Great House" set from the television programme in Cricket House. [3] In 1996 Edmonds pulled out of backing the park, though due to contractual rights the majority of the attractions remained. These were removed in 1997. References to Mr Blobby were removed, with Noddy being used as the main character for the rebranded Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park until the whole area was closed in 1997. [3] After the rebrand, the Dunblobbin' area was closed and sealed off. [3]
In the 2000s, urban explorers rediscovered the abandoned Dunblobbin' house which led to more people returning to Cricket St Thomas to see it. [2] The owners of the land initially blocked off the site, eventually demolishing Dunblobbin' in 2014 due to vandalism and the holding of illegal raves. [5] The polystyrene toilet was taken from the house in 2013 and placed in an art gallery. [6]
In 1994, Lancaster City Council agreed a deal with Edmonds to open a Crinkley Bottom on the grounds of Happy Mount Park in Morecambe, Lancashire. Councillors voted 59–1 in favour of a £300,000 investment. The park received outside sponsorship from Fuji and Mars, Incorporated with British Rail giving the park free advertising by promoting the nearby Bare Lane railway station as "Bare Crinkley Bottom". [7] It opened in July 1994 as "Noel Edmonds' World of Crinkley Bottom" [8] however a number of problems started to emerge shortly after opening. [9] A month later, a liquor licence was granted to the park over complaints from Bare residents that it would lead to "hooligan" behaviour in the surrounding areas. [9] Visitors started writing to the local paper complaining about a lack of facilities with a 6,000 strong protest group being formed opposing it. In November, the Labour led council voted to withdraw its support on the grounds that the park was not meeting the promised visitor or income targets, thus closing the park after only thirteen weeks open to the public. [9]
The council sued Edmonds and Unique for failing to reach the predicted targets on the grounds of misrepresentation and negligence. [9] The court found that the council had acted unlawfully during its handling of Crinkley Bottom [8] and dismissed their claims whilst Edmonds was awarded £950,000 in damages. [9] The fiasco gained the name of "Blobbygate" with Edmonds stating after a negative report into the council's handling of the situation which had cost the local taxpayers £2.6 million, that: "We wanted people investigated because they cheated the people of Morecambe out of something very significant. I thought Morecambe was famous for shrimps, now it's notorious for fudge." [10] In 2016, the Countdown host Nick Hewer visited Morecambe to film a segment for BBC One's The One Show detailing the park and resulting scandal. [11]
In 1996 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, Unique licensed a Crinkley Bottom attraction at Pleasurewood Hills. [12] [13] During their Crinkley Bottom licence, the park transformed its theatre into a castle. This arrangement only lasted for a year due to a change of ownership. [14]
Lancashire is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is Blackpool, and county town is the city of Preston.
Lancaster is a city in Lancashire, England and the main cultural hub, economic and commercial centre of City of Lancaster district. The city is on the River Lune and directly inland from Morecambe Bay. Lancaster was the county town of Lancashire until the county council's administrative headquarters moved to Preston in 1974. The city's long history is marked by Lancaster Roman Fort, Lancaster Castle, Lancaster Priory Church, Lancaster Cathedral and the Ashton Memorial. It is the seat of Lancaster University and has a campus of the University of Cumbria. It had a population of 52,234 in the 2011 census compared to the district which had a population of 138,375. The city is an economic hub for the surrounding districts of Ribble Valley and Wyre as well as the Westmorland and Furness unitary area of Cumbria.
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Noel Ernest Edmonds is an English television presenter, radio DJ, writer, producer, and businessman. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK, presenting the breakfast show for almost 5 years. He has presented various radio shows and light-entertainment television programmes for 50 years, originally working for the BBC, later Sky UK and Channel 4.
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Noel's House Party is a BBC light entertainment series that was hosted by Noel Edmonds. Set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo, it ran from 23 November 1991 to 20 March 1999 on BBC One, and for eight series was broadcast live on Saturday evenings. The show, once described by a senior corporation executive as "the most important show on the BBC", was cancelled in February 1999 due to declining ratings, although two further compilation specials were shown in March 2000. In 2010, Noel's House Party was voted the best Saturday night TV show of all time. In August 2022, an episode of the show, the tenth episode of the first series, was repeated on BBC Four. This marks the first time since 2000 that the show has been broadcast on the BBC.
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Mr Blobby is a character originally featured on the British Saturday night variety show Noel's House Party, broadcast on BBC One. Created by Charlie Adams, a writer for the show, Mr Blobby is a bulbous pink figure covered in yellow spots, with a permanent toothy grin and green jiggling eyes. Mr Blobby communicates only by saying the word "blobby" in an electronically altered voice, expressing his moods through tone of voice and repetition. He topped the UK Singles Chart with the 1993 Christmas release "Mr Blobby".
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