Inside the UK’s biggest indoor waterpark, now doomed after a series of grim discoveries
A waterpark that used to be the UK’s largest has been set for demolition, five years after its closure — but over the years it was open several grim discoveries were made
The UK’s largest waterpark, which has had its fair share of gross discoveries over the years, is now in line to be demolished.
Wet ’n’ Wild park in North Shields used to be home to record-breaking rides and a hoards of happy families splashing around. However, in 2019, due to maintenance issues and a drop in the number of visitors, the park was forced to close. Since then it has remained eerily quiet and empty.
Despite hope from fans that it would reopen, plans to demolish the waterpark were submitted in July 2024, by Bloom Developments and according to local media, came about after a number of break-ins at the site.
Over the years, visitors have made some grim discoveries including excrement by the log flume and ’spyholes’ ( Image: Mirrorpix)
The application states: "Property has recurrent breaking and entering with increasing anti-social behaviour. Demolition will enable future development." If approved, the demolishment will take approximately eight weeks to complete.
But the much beloved park had not been without its problems when it was still opening, including a string of gross discoveries. In 2015, Justine Bell and her 10-year-old daughter claimed they found excrement at the bottom of the log flume.
Justine said: "It was just so dirty. I went to pick my daughter up and there at the bottom of the flume was faeces. She nearly stepped in it. It was horrendous. We told a lifeguard and he just stood there grinning.” Justine, from Walkergate, told Chronicle Live how staff were "joking around" and did not treat the matter seriously. She and her partner Christopher left the pool with their daughter, Millie, immediately and demanded a refund.
“Millie had been going on about going all summer but when we did it was dreadful," she added. “We paid £25 — it wasn’t cheap and the cleanliness was a real cause for concern.”
A spokesperson for the firm said at the time: “We can confirm a customer reported to lifeguards that there was faeces on the floor next to the bottom of one of our flumes. The incident was reported to the supervisor and the faeces promptly cleaned up and the floor area disinfected. There was no indication that this had originated from inside the flume, and faeces was not found in the pool itself.” Justine was later refunded the money she had paid on the day out.
This isn’t the only grim discovery that has occurred at the park. In 2017, a seven-year-old boy found ’spyholes’ in the changing room cubicles. Mother Joanne Adoniadis quickly alerted Wet n’ Wild staff to the disturbing find, but when she returned in June of the same year, there were still holes in the cubicle walls.
Joanne was alerted to the ’spyholes’ when her son shouted that he could see his mum and sister getting changed, through a hole in the side of the changing room. The discovery was reported and Wet ’n’ Wild said the holes were immediately filled in by staff, Chronicle Live reported.
The 37-year-old said at the time: “I was utterly disgusted to see a drill hole at waist height between the two. It was absolutely awful, the first thing that went through my mind was the worst possible scenario. It must have been at that level so an adult who didn’t know it was there wouldn’t see it. There’s no possible innocent explanation for that in my view.”
Facilities manager, Kevin Nolan, told media after the incident came to light: “A hole approximately 5mm in diameter was discovered in the lowest part of a changing room wall and was immediately filled in. Our management staff have fully checked every single cubicle in our building and there are no other reports of related issues. The customer involved was issued with admission vouchers as a good will gesture which they used during this May half term.”
Joanne and her family decided to return to the park on June 1, but when they returned to the cubicles they discovered another ’spyhole’. She contacted staff immediately and said she believes the hole was quickly filled in with putty.
Joanne said managers assured her they would check to make sure this didn’t happen again. After the incident, the park called for a full investigation.
“We are never going back with the kids, it just makes me think whoever has done this, if they are in the area, they could come back and do it again," she added. “In my view, I would be checking each cubicle every day and you would be able to narrow it down as to when it was being done.”
Wet ‘n’ Wild in North Shields originally opened in 1993 before closing down in 2019 and was home to the biggest indoor waterpark in the UK. Rides includes the country’s biggest water slide — the 541ft-long Black Hole — the Kamikaze, Abyss and the Lazy River.
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