Gary O.
Yelp
Awful, just awful
I had the misfortune of spending a very rainy 25th August in Brighton and decided with my partner to take my nephew and niece to the Sea Life Centre, there being not a lot else we could do with two children in the constant torrential downpour.
After a twenty five minute queue in a wind tunnel and with the onset of hyperthermia we were eventually ushered towards the reception. I was amazed to find a huge open space behind the tills which were situated right at the front of the doorways. Why on earth allow your customers to take advantage of the warmth of the building, when you can leave them standing in the cold and the wet? Talk about poor ergonomics.
Once finally at the till I almost had to reach for an Iron Lung, after being told that the cost of entry, plus one programme and a ride on the glass bottom boat would be £73.00!! Yes, £73.00 for a family of four, with no family or child discount, when put into context with say a National Trust Membership which allows free access to all National Trust sites for an entire family, for one year and costs only £99.00 you can see why I was breathless! Indeed the following Thursday 27th August we took the kids back to Brighton on a brighter but not yet sunny day and where able to purchase wrist bands for unlimited access to the end of the Brighton Pier Rides, games of ten pin bowling and laser quest, all for the same price as the access we paid to the Sea Life Centre, value for money the centre is simply not!
However, my partner and our kids were keen (much keener than I), so I reluctantly paid the extortion and we entered the Centre. Upon entering it was absolutely packed, so much so that you couldn't get near the tanks and once you did, they were filthy both inside and out, particularly with grubby finger marks. It is hard to see where the money went to refurbish the centre, if it was in space planning then they were robbed. Which bright spark had the idea of putting the Café right in the centre of a throughway, restricting access for anyone wanting to see the tanks either side or make a hasty exit out of the place!
We clearly visited the day the Annual Push Chair Convention had hired the Centre, as you couldn't move for them (many of them the size of a small family hatchback), restricting access to the tanks, the narrow walkways, running over your feet and generally getting in the way. The Centre simply doesn't lend itself to large crowds and pushchairs and either a limit should have been placed on the numbers allowed in the Centre or the pushchairs should have been handed in at reception, after all there were acres of space to store them behind the tills!
Now to the fish, the ugliest collection of creatures I have ever seen, hardly a bright colour amongst them, if the worst looking of God's creatures is your thing, then you will not be disappointed. However, if want to view in glorious colour his creation then spend your £73.00 elsewhere!
After we wound our way through the disappointingly small and narrow marine tunnel locked in by pushchairs and crowds it was finally time to go to the glass bottomed boat. This it turns out is actually a small raft, no bigger than what Kate Winslet floated on in the final scenes of Titanic, which hardly moves across the marine tunnels.
Disappointed we definitely were! When it was finally time to leave we all breathed a sigh of relief and agreed, never ever again!