Judging by the phone calls and emails I've received, there is a lot of confusion about this Boggo Road opening, so here are some basic facts to hopefully set people straight:IS THIS A FULL REOPENING?
No. Part of the gaol is only open for a four-month trial period. Even if this works out, it will only stay open for a further interim period of several months. This is because the Boggo Road Urban Village developers (Leighton Properties) are still finalising the long-term plans for the gaol and surrounding space. While much of the gaol will still be used for historical/cultural/educational purposes, parts of it will be adapted for mixed use (I don't know what, so please don't ask me).
What this means is that when the final plans are in place and approved, the interim opening will end and the gaol will close again for refurbishment. And then reopen again. Probably.
IS ALL THE GAOL OPEN?
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| Blue area = open building |
No. To be honest, it will actually be very limited, so there will be access to some of the exercise yards and the first two floors of ONE of the cellblocks. The top floor will be closed off for safety purposes.This is something I want to be very clear and honest about so people can't complain to me and demand a refund if they expected to see more.
WILL THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY BE RUNNING THEIR TOURS AGAIN?
That is the plan. We want to do night, day and 'Haunted Cellblock' tours. It is the duty of the interim license holder to provide 'fair and equitable access' for any other organisation wanting to run appropriate events in the gaol, but they have not provided this yet. When we do get access sorted we aim to run the brilliant tours mentioned here and here (also see here for more details).
So there you have it. This is a interim-trial reopening of part of the gaol and you will have to wait a wee bit longer for the BRGHS tours. Like the finest Scotch, they're worth waiting for.
