The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1988–2001
The Coronation Street tour drew 5.25M fans — Granada shut it anyway
Granada's Manchester studio tour opened in 1988 and drew 5.25 million visitors; by January 2001 the company judged it no longer worth keeping, and shut it.
Granada Studios Tour · Granada Media · 2001-01
What happened
Granada Studios Tour opened in Manchester in July 1988, next door to the television studios that made Coronation Street. Fans could walk the cobbles of the actual exterior set, drink in a replica Rovers Return, and later ride the MotionMaster simulator and the Skytrak flying coaster. In its first eight months it drew 600,000 visitors, and more than 5 million came in total.
By the mid-1990s the crowds were sliding — around 780,000 a year in 1996, falling fast after that. The Skytrak coaster, opened in October 1997, was shut within a year over reliability problems, and the complex grew tired. In December 1999 the tour stopped admitting the public at all, running only for pre-booked groups.
On 18 January 2001 Granada Media announced the attraction would close for good at the end of February, with the loss of 38 jobs, after a year-long review: it was no longer appealing enough in a fiercely competitive market and did not fit the company's core media business. Granada's money and attention had moved to ONdigital, the digital TV venture that would soon collapse in its own right. The site was cleared to extend Coronation Street's filming set.
Why it happened
- A TV-set tour has one novelty; after the mid-1990s the crowds fell fast and repeat visits never filled the gap.
- Granada's attention moved to ONdigital, and the tour lost the investment it needed to stay fresh.
- The year-long review judged the attraction off-strategy — not worth rescuing, whatever its past numbers.
The lesson
5.25 million fans walked the cobbles in 13 years, then crowds collapsed and Granada judged the tour off-strategy. The street survived as a film set; the attraction didn't.
Aftermath
The Coronation Street set reopened for a temporary public tour from April 2014 to December 2015; ONdigital, Granada's replacement bet, became ITV Digital and collapsed in 2002.
Sources
- The Guardian, 18 January 2001 — Granada shuts tourist attraction (Granada Media decided to permanently close the Coronation Street tourist attraction and the wider Granada Studios Tour in Manchester after a year-long review; the attraction was no longer sufficiently appealing in an extremely competitive market and did not fit into its core media business; a radical rethink had previously been shelved; it would close at the end of February 2001 with the loss of 38 jobs; 5.25 million people visited between opening in July 1988 and closure; annual attendance was 780,000 five years earlier but fell rapidly, leading to public closure in December 1999; the site was to be demolished to extend the Coronation Street filming set)
- Wikipedia — Granada Studios Tour (opened July 1988; featured the actual Coronation Street exterior set, a replica Rovers Return, New York Street, Baker Street, Downing Street, Emmerdale sets, a MotionMaster ride and the Skytrak flying roller coaster opened October 1997; attracted over 5 million visitors in total with 600,000 in the first eight months; visitor numbers waned by the late 1990s; Skytrak closed in 1998 due to reliability issues; closed to the public December 1999 and permanently in 2001; Granada prioritised ONdigital, later ITV Digital, which subsequently failed; the Coronation Street set reopened for tours April 2014 to December 2015)
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