When the rides aren’t moving and the lake only reflects the sky on a weekday morning in early spring, Drayton Manor seems a little outdated. You can practically picture George and Vera Bryan strolling around the grounds in 1950, arranging a few rowboats and a petting zoo, without realizing they were laying the groundwork for what would grow to be one of the nation’s most closely watched theme park operations. Even though it is part of the much larger Looping Group, a European operator that currently operates nineteen parks throughout the continent, the location still has that family-built feel seventy-five years later.
In April, the park opened a small museum featuring over 200 old photos and pieces of vintage memorabilia to commemorate its 75th birthday. The resort’s managing director, Victoria Lynn, who took over in March 2022, talked nostalgically about grandparents exploring the property and recalling a time when it was just a lake. The pitch is endearing. Beneath the nostalgia, however, Drayton Manor has quietly influenced something much less visually appealing for decades: the internal safety reporting, behavior, and discourse of British amusement parks.
The park’s annual general meetings have evolved into a sort of unofficial benchmark, as anyone following the UK leisure industry will attest. It’s not because Drayton Manor publishes glossy safety white papers, but rather because discussions in those rooms have a tendency to spread. Operators converse. At trade exhibitions, engineers compare notes. And those internal discussions took on a different significance following the events of May 2017, when eleven-year-old Evha Jannath drowned on the Splash Canyon water rapids ride while on a school trip from Leicester. There had been “systemic failures of safety” on that ride, the Health and Safety Executive subsequently reported to Stafford Crown Court. The park’s attorney referred to it as “a corporate failing.” There aren’t many heavier sentences in the history of British leisure.
The part that isn’t always told is what transpired after. Systems for managing safety were revised. By industry standards, visit organizer guidelines—a dry six-page document that schools usually skim—became remarkably detailed. The park’s published safety guidelines for tour operators, which were revised in the middle of 2022, seem to have been written by individuals who have realized the consequences of using ambiguous language. Given the legal pressure, it’s possible that this was always going to occur. Speaking with anyone in the industry, however, gives the impression that Drayton Manor’s response influenced how smaller parks currently approach risk assessment, ride supervision, and the difficult issue of what constitutes appropriate signage.
The rebranding followed. A stronger dedication to cutting waste and preserving green areas, along with a new logo and new values. The opening of the Vikings-themed area in 2022, complete with rides like Thor and Jormungandr, signaled a park attempting to move forward without pretending the past had never happened. Lynn’s remarks at the time regarding attracting “a more diverse family thrill audience” were undoubtedly well-crafted. However, the engineering reviews persisted beneath the marketing rhetoric. Internal audits went on. The yearly reporting went on.
It’s difficult to ignore how infrequently any of this is commemorated in public. Stories about compliance documents are not the foundation of theme parks. They are based on Stormforce 10, a three-drop water coaster that debuted in 1999, and Shockwave, the first stand-up rollercoaster in Europe, which debuted in 1994. Those are recalled by visitors. They can’t recall the meetings.
However, the rides continue to operate in part because of the meetings. The yearly meeting at Drayton Manor has evolved into something akin to a deliberate, slow engine for industry self-correction. Given everything that has already gone wrong, it remains to be seen if that is sufficient. However, you get the impression that the most significant discussions are still taking place in rooms devoid of any rides as the park enters its next decade with new ownership, new branding, and a museum full of old photos.
