York businesses have been spooked by the arrival of a ghost train in the city centre, which they say is damaging trade.
The ride now dominates King’s Square, traditionally the home for street performers and stall holders.
Since the ride opened on Wednesday 16 October, traders on the square say its size and noise have driven customers away. But the ride operator say families love the ride, and they are doing all they can to keep down the noise.
Rich works at The Duke of York pub on the square. He says the ride blocks the window views from his pub, making the inside much darker and discouraging customers from entering.
“The day after the ride was put up we were £800 to £1,000 down on our target,” he told YorkMix.
“We’ve had to cut hours down for staff, usually I’d have someone in from 11am but it’s just me here at the moment. And it’s only been a week.”
He believes traders were misinformed about the nature of the ride. “We were massively misled. The fact that they advertised it as a vintage ghost train is an issue with a lot of people.
“I imagined it’d at least look pretty.”
He even thought it might have boosted trade, rather than “block the pub”.
James, from card and gift shop Daisy Taylors, feels the ride doesn’t belong. “I’m certainly not against the square being used for other activities. I’m just not quite sure how in keeping with the area that ride is.
“When it said ghost train, when they notified us, we had visions of a circular carousel type ghost train. I thought that’d be lovely, perfect for kids. But it looks like something from a fair.
“On Sunday, I spoke to the guy that’s got one of the stalls outside, and he said he was 50% down as nobody can see his stall.”
For recent Christmases, a vintage merry-go-round has operated on King’s Square, operated by the same people behind the Ghost Train. Traders are more accepting of the carousel.
“The carousel is beautiful. We’re not particularly a fan of that, as it’s so large, but it is definitely used a lot,” James said.
“It’s far more in keeping. Size wise, it’s massive, but we can’t have everything we want.”
Paul Kemp is landlord of The Last Drop Inn, the pub overlooking King’s Square that’s been operating since 2000.
“Previously there were performers that added to the overall ambience of the square,” he said. “That gives the square some purpose.”
Street performers add value, he said. “It’s free, essentially, especially if you don’t have much money, and basically the noise that would travel from that would be cheering, laughter, the voice of the performer, and it all mixes together, and it gives the area a lift,” he told YorkMix.
But they can’t perform while the ghost train is in place – which is throughout the lucrative period covering the half term holiday.
The Ghost Train will be staying in the square for one more week, until 1 November.
YorkMix spoke to Phillip Cooper, who operates the ghost train for John Warrington. He told YorkMix he does his best to make people happy.
“We do our best to keep the noise down. The music’s really low, a lot of the sirens, bells, and whistles have all been turned off,” he said.
“The noise of the ride when it’s going round doors, I can’t really do it very much about that, but I’ll do everything we can, anything that Make It York’s asked me to do.”
Phillip said families enjoyed the ride. “Everybody seems to love it, the kids are loving it. I’ve had loads of good reports. I don’t think there’s anybody, public wise, not having a good time.
“People are laughing and joking. Everyone seems to enjoy it. It was busy on Saturday and through the week has been OK as well. I’ve never had any complaints.”
He insisted that the ghost train is vintage, as advertised. “It is a vintage ride, it’s got a modern appeal to it, but it’s a vintage ride. It was built in 1985.”
He added: “The ghost train is very fitting, especially for York as it’s one of the scariest cities in the in the country. I know it doesn’t suit everybody, but it’s only here for a short spell to fit in with Halloween.”
The traders we spoke to recognised that the their concerns are not the fault of the ride operator.
It is Make It York that decided to rent out the square to the ghost train.
James from Daisy Taylors believes King’s Square businesses should have more of a say on what gets put outside their businesses.
“I’d love to see market stalls out here,” he said. “I think it would suit it perfectly to have York only businesses in the square in wooden huts. It would look amazing.
“This isn’t coming up at it from a financial point of view – it’s purely, is it in keeping with the square and is it the right thing? Who’s making these decisions?
“If they’ve made a mistake this time, we all make mistakes, and maybe hopefully in the future they’ll say that it wasn’t the right thing and look for something different the next time.”
He said a lot of the businesses pay a levy, and added: “I’d rather increase my levy and keep the square as it is. I don’t know how much the ghost train will be paying to have that spot, but if we shared the cost between the 50 odd businesses to keep it I would.”.
The ghost train sits directly outside York’s Chocolate Story. We asked for their response, but they didn’t want to comment publicly.
Lisa Grimbley, head of markets and events at Make It York said : “Our vision is to develop activities within the events programme which provides variety, for families and the residents of York.
“This new addition, the ghost train, provides something different which enhances the Halloween programme within the city.
“The attraction is at King’s Square until 1 November 2024.
“Since it began on 17 October, we have received some good feedback, and the ghost train proved very popular at the weekend.
“We are of course sorry to hear about any issues, but we will continue to monitor the attraction and review all the feedback received to shape our future planning.”
What do you think of the Ghost Train? Do you believe Kings Square should be sacred for performers? Let us know at info@yorkmix.com.