London's "worst tourist attraction" closes
Westminster City Council has begun tearing down the Marble Arch Mound six months after a controversial six months
Last updated 18th Jan 2022
After being branded "London’s worst tourist attraction", Marble Arch Mound is being taken down today.
Opposition councillors had previously demanded the attraction be ripped down early after it was revealed the hill cost £6 million – three times its original budget.
But Westminster City Council has defended the mound which attracted 250,000 visitors between July and January.
Plants began to fall off the ambitious project on its opening day on 26th July and council staff scrambled to add new plants to the mound late into the night.
The attraction was then forced to close two days later due to "teething problems" before reopening for free from 1st August.
Tickets were previously priced between £4.50 and £8 to visit the viewing platform.
The Tory-led council's deputy leader Melvyn Caplan resigned in August after the extent of the mound’s overspending was revealed.
The mound also opened without all its features and the light exhibition buried deep in the hill opened seven weeks late.
The hill, which was designed to lure shoppers back to Oxford Street as lockdown was lifted, has been called everything from a "BTEC Eifel Tower" to a "slagheap."
A Westminster City Council spokesman said: "Westminster City Council is a high profile local authority with unique responsibilities at the heart of the capital.
"As such, we need to recruit the best talent for managing within a complex organisation whose work involves a partnership with central Government, the multi-billion economy of the West End and 260,000 residents. The salaries paid reflect the skills needed to lead the authority in a post-pandemic world.
"The Mound has done what it was built to do – drawn crowds and supported the recovery in this part of London. We’re really pleased that over 242,000 people have visited to see the Mound and the terrific light exhibition inside."