Eden Project losses deepen as attraction bosses prepare to develop Morecambe site

The attraction saw more than 604,000 visitors in the year to March 31 2024, up from just over 551,000 in the previous 12 months.

This led to a rise in turnover from £23.2m to £24.2m – but the increase in visitors did not prevent the pre-tax loss from nearly doubling from £868,000 to £1.5m, as revealed by recently filed accounts at Companies House and reported by Business Live.

These figures come ahead of the anticipated opening of the new Eden Project Morecambe between 2027 and 2028.

Lancaster City Council granted planning permission for the £100m project at the end of January 2022, and the first £5m of £50m in government levelling-up funding has been awarded.

The project, which was initially expected to open in 2024 but has faced several delays, is set to employ more than 400 people directly and support 1,500 jobs in the region.

The Eden Project North will be situated on the former Bubbles leisure complex site on the promenade near the Winter Gardens and Midland Hotel.

It is projected that the project could boost the local economy by £200m annually.

A statement approved by the Eden board read: "During this financial year, we emerged from the aftershocks of Russia invading Ukraine and the knock on effect on global energy prices, to a period of receding inflation and lowering interest rates", as reported by City AM.

"However, consumer confidence is still negative, but significantly improved over its all time low in October 2022.

"All of these factors impacted the trading results of Eden Project Limited during 2023/24.

"Given the challenging conditions from last year and ongoing macro-economic uncertainty, we will continue to diligently control our resources but invest back into our principal asset, the Eden Project site, where necessary."