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We’re back with more news about the now-infamous Marble Arch Mound. A 25-metre-tall spectacle plonked on one end of Oxford Street, the art installation slash viewing platform looks out over Hyde Park and Marylebone and has been controversial – to say the least.
Not only did the artificial hill make headlines after closing down just days after first opening – garnering the enviable reputation as ‘London’s worst tourist attraction’ – but its costs have spiralled from £2 million to a whopping £6 million, causing deputy council leader Melvyn Caplan to resign last month.
The next chapter in the saga of the Mound has now unravelled, but for the curious and skint among us, it’s only good news. Visitors were originally able to book tickets starting from £4.50, with Westminster Council hoping that tourist revenue would help to offset the building costs. Now the attraction will be permanently free of charge for everyone to visit until its closure in January next year – and if that’s not enough to sway you, a brand new exhibition space and café are also being built inside.
Apparently, over 60,000 people have already checked it out since it’s been free to climb, so it seems like at least some people think it’s an all right idea (even if it’s just to get those steps in). Maybe, one day, we’ll come to love our Mound.
Find out more about the Marble Arch Mound on its website.
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