Fantaseas

Fantaseas was a chain of indoor waterparks situated in the United Kingdom that opened in the late 1980s, but due to various technical and financial difficulties closed in the mid-nineties. The first was opened in Autumn 1989 on the outskirts of Dartford in Kent. The building contained six American-style water slides, a lazy river, wave pool, an outdoor heated lagoon as well as a cafe and gaming video arcade. Visible on the skyline from the nearby M25 motorway the building dominated the local landscape and became quite an icon of the town.

A second opened in 1990 in Chingford, London and featured many of the same rides as the Dartford park, albeit in a different configuration. The Chingford park was considered by some to be 'tamer' than its Dartford counterpart, but still contained many of the same style of water slides as its predecessor.

In the summer of 1992, it was found the foundations of the Dartford site were slowly sinking and were insufficient in the long term to take the weight of the building built on a hillside. Many considered the parks to be fads and typical of the grandiose get-rich-quick schemes of the time. In reality, the company encountered significant financial difficulties with a lack of attendance especially outside of the school holiday seasons. There were also several serious accidents at the Chingford park which tarnished the reputation of the company. This, coupled with high maintenance costs, raked up debts of over £6 million in an eighteen-month period. In December 1992,after a short life Fantaseas went into liquidation and both sites shut down.

The Chingford site laid derelict for a decade before Waltham Forest Council built a new indoor pool on the site, Larkswood Leisure Centre, which is now shared with a private Green's leisure club and a restaurant.

The Dartford site, in danger of collapsing due to subsidence, was demolished soon after its closure. The site still remains derelict today, with plans to turn the site into housing.The site is a former refuse dump .There is still evidence of the outdoor pool on the site .

External links

* [http://www.dartfordarchive.org.uk/20th_century/leisure_sports.shtml Dartford Town Archive: Twentieth Century Leisure And Entertainment]