THE summer shut-down of Bradford’s famous Mirror Pool cost the local economy around £150,000 - according to Bradford Council figures.

Based in the heart of the city centre, the Mirror Pool has become one of Bradford’s biggest attractions since opening in 2012.

But for much of this Spring and Summer the attraction, which includes a large paddling pool and a series of fountains, was shut down after a major flood in the underground plant room.

From April 14 to August 1, a period that included some of the hottest days in recent memory, the pool remained dry and non-operational. An “urban beach” was installed on the site for a period to keep families visiting City Park.

Now the Council has revealed the cost of the pool’s closure in terms of the local economy.

Councillor Debbie Davies (Cons, Baildon) asked for estimates on how much the Bradford economy had lost out due to the closure.

City Park Mirror Pool back open after major flood

She received a response this week that revealed the closure led to 24,000 fewer visits to the city centre than would normally be expected.

The response from the Council said: “The economic impact has been calculated using historic footfall statistics and an assumed percentage of visits being people spending time in City Park due to the presence of the Mirror Pool being operational.

“We have estimated that approximately 24,000 visits that were lost due to the Mirror Pool closure. This figure has been calculated based on the average 14,000 visits a day to City Park. When calculating an economic impact figure we have assumed that just 1.5 per cent of those visits are people spending time in City Park due to the presence of the Mirror Pool being operational. This generates a figure of 24,000 visits that were lost due to the Mirror Pool Closure.

Using an established methodology developed by the consultancy firm Ekosgen, we estimate the economic impact of these lost visitors over the closure period to be in the region of £225,000.

“However some of the loss was mitigated by the urban beach that operated from 12t to 27 July and attracted an estimated 8,000 visitors, who spent around £75,000.

“So the overall loss to the city centre economy during the closure was around £150,000.

“This estimated impact does however need to be balanced against many years where it has helped generate millions for our economy.”

The response adds: “Although we were devastated by the damage to the equipment and not being able to have our iconic water feature operating, we were heartened by how much it was missed by the public and the importance it has for so many people.”

And it implies that there may need to be another shutdown of the pool in the future, adding: “Due to extent of the damage caused to the plant it will be necessary for the full schedule of repairs, replacements and upgrades to the system to be undertaken into the New Year. Any further shut down of the system will be during the winter period when visitor numbers are at their lowest. There are periods every year when the pool is off due to cold weather and it is hoped that a closedown at this time will not adversely impact on any of our businesses and visitors.”