It's called a fiasco… Barely six months after opening to great fanfare, London's latest tourist attraction had to close on January 9th.
Widely decried across the Channel, both by the press and by the public, the Marble Arch Mound (or Mound of Marble Arch) will have fizzled out.
Several things have been criticized for this tourist attraction supported by the Council of Westminster, and consisting of an artificial hill 25 meters high, at the intersection of Marble Arch and Oxford Street.
First of all, its construction price, which reached six million pounds (7,197,570 euros), three times more than what had been initially planned - resulting in the resignation in August of the deputy mayor of Westminster Council Melvyn Caplan . His lack of aesthetics, then, was harshly criticized, attracting many mockeries on social networks. Finally, the fact that this mountain did not meet the announced specifications - namely, to embody "
vast green spaces
" and to show "
unique points of view on the city
", completed to trigger the ire general towards him.
Preparatory work to remove the structure has already begun.
On Wednesday, workers were observed working in the area, now inaccessible to the public.
On the spot, passers-by took pictures of the mount of discord, as if to take with them a souvenir of the improbable attraction, whose destiny was as brief as it was controversial.
SEE THE DOSSIER -
London: the
Figaro travel guide
Difficult beginnings
As soon as the Marble Arch Mound opened, visitors were openly skeptical. Besides the presence of scaffolding still visible during the opening, elements of the attraction itself were unfinished, which was much noticed. In fact, neither the planned café nor the inaugural exhibition were ready. Moreover, the absence of the advertised greenery was particularly glaring, as evidenced by the various photos published by disappointed visitors – where we see above all, by way of greenery, the adjoining Hyde Park, beyond the vast scaffolding structures of the attraction.
Visitors also decried the disappointing view offered by the promontory (top of 130 steps).
The British press added,
The Guardian
headlining in particular, in an article published in August 2021, that “
Marble Arch Mound attracted crowds eager to see how bad it is
”.
Read alsoShopping in London: ten department stores and small boutiques for successful shopping
As soon as the official announcement of the Mound's closure was communicated, Twitter users did not hesitate to make final mocking comments about the failed attraction. Among them was journalist and author Andrew Scott, who wrote under his pen name Otto English a final remark on Twitter: “
Farewell then to the Marble Arch Mound, which has cost the taxpayers of Westminster six million pounds
”.
In a similar vein, one visitor claimed that Marble Arch Mound was "
the worst thing [she's] ever done in London
".
Same story in the British press,
The Independent
having for example headlined on Monday: "
Marble Arch Mound: London's most controversial attraction finally closes, after an avalanche of bad reviews
".
Some support despite everything
Some voices have nevertheless been raised in favor of the mountain of discord.
Tory MP Tony Devenish, for example, pointed out that the Marble Arch Mound "
has helped a return to attendance at a time when the West End was desperately trying to protect jobs and recover from the impact of Covid
".
Read alsoWhere can we travel?
Our map of open countries and restrictions for French tourists
The Council also defended the attraction's short report, recalling that its opening had resulted in a large number of visits (more than 242,000), thus helping to revive economic activity for merchants in the district in a critical period of pandemic.