10680 wrote:I don't know if they looked at an atlas before they decided to move. Newquay is near the end of a sparsely populated peninsula. For me it would be a 250 mile journey. For most of the country it would be much further. Coventry on the other hand is 150 miles away and I guess that most of the country (and Wales) is within that. How many Cornish holidaymakers are aviation enthusiasts?
Presumably they were made a good offer to move.
Anyone know how busy the Newquay site was?
Living - as I do - at the end of that 'sparsely populated peninsular' - I quite see your point and agree with you as we have to do that very 250 mile journey to come the other way to see pretty much anything aviation wise - and yes you are right Cornwall is not really the place for something that is very much a niche operation ..
In the summer the population explodes and we are falling over the holiday makers who are looking for things to do - and I suspect but not many of them saw an old aviation based attraction as a place to visit as there are no roller coasters, adrenaline etc - most inland - non coast attractions - are hit hard with visitors when the weather is bad and you can't go to the beach and one hangar with some 'old' static aircraft and some pretty expensive flying experiences just did not cut it ..
I suspect their decision to come to Cornwall was driven by access to one of the largest hangars available (the old Nimrod base) and they were running out of space in Coventry ... we all know we sometimes get a 'rose tinted specs' view and they must have thought they could make it happen - but I suspect costs of running 2 sites and the downsides of Cornwall's location have got the better of them.
Sad to see them go but entirely see the point about Coventry's location...
