Theme park will close its doors

A theme park first opened on the site in 1985

A major theme park in Derbyshire is closing down and all its rides will be put up for sale.

The American Adventure Theme Park near Shipley has announced it will not reopen for the summer season.

The park has struggled to break even in recent years and attendance has fallen, the owners Venture World said.

It is closing after "a period of difficult trading" and the leasehold on the property will revert to Derbyshire County Council.

"American Adventure Theme Park states that it has invested considerably in trying to make the Park a commercial success but a fall in attendances which has been experienced across the UK theme park market has proved impossible to overcome," the firm said in a statement.

White knuckle rides

The firm has not confirmed the exact number of jobs affected.

The park was opened as Britannia Park in June 1985 by boxer Henry Cooper.

But it closed 10 weeks later and receivers were called in to deal with debts of £9.5m.

Many of the creditors never received the cash they were owed.

The man behind the park, Peter Kellard, was sentenced to four years in prison after a major police fraud investigation.

The county council bought the park for £2.5m in 1986, but later sold it to Granada, who reopened the park, under the name The American Adventure, in June 1987.

Granada in turn sold it to Venture World in early 1997.

In 2005 they decided to close the white knuckle rides and concentrate its efforts into making it a more child-oriented park.

Derbyshire County Council said a list of options for the site will now be drawn up and presented to the council's cabinet.