Photo gallery: Great Yarmouth House of Wax faces closure. Tell us your memories of cult attraction
Louis Tussauds House of Wax on Regent Road in Great Yarmouth.
Picture: James Bass
Sam Russell
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
1:37 PM
A cult Great Yarmouth waxworks attraction is facing closure, as its elderly owners look to retire.
GV's of the dummies in Louis Tussauds House of Wax, 18 Regent Road, Great Yarmouth.
Princess Diana.
Picture: Adam Scorey
Copy: Stephen Pullinger
For :EDP/GYM News
EDP pics © 2003 Tel: (01603) 772434Louis Tussauds House of Wax, in Great Yarmouth, has been run by a husband and wife team for 57 years, and both are now in their eighties.
The attraction enjoys cult status online for having waxworks that look very little like their subjects.
But since husband Peter Hayes suffered a bout of pneumonia this year they have had to consider the future of the Regent Road business.
And with no relatives interested in taking on the waxworks they are seeking planning permission to make the entire building residential.
GV's of the dummies in Louis Tussauds House of Wax, 18 Regent Road, Great Yarmouth. The Beatles. Picture: Adam Scorey Copy: Stephen Pullinger For :EDP/GYM News EDP pics © 2003 Tel: (01603) 772434Jane Hayes, 82, set up the business with her parents and now runs it with husband Peter, 85.
“In June this year my husband was taken seriously ill with pneumonia,” she told the EDP. “We don’t want to retire but when your health starts to decline you have to think.
“It will be a shame as we’ve been here 57 years, and it would be nice to make 60, but we’ve no family interested in taking it on. “It’s softly softly and we hope we will be able to continue as it’s also our home.”
They are pursuing a number of options, including closing the museum, finding new owners and seeking reduced rates from Yarmouth’s borough council.
There are more than 150 waxworks at the museum, which employs three staff besides Mr and Mrs Hayes, including a full-time manager.
Waxworks include Princess Diana, The Beatles and David Beckham, with the museum named after Madame Tussaud’s great grandson.
Two planning applications have been lodged with Great Yarmouth Borough Council by Mr and Mrs Hayes through agents Reedling Consultants.
The first is to change the waxworks to a residential dwelling, and the second is to erect two new kiosks outside the museum.
Click on the photo gallery at the top right of the story to see if you can recognise some of the wax creations.
To share your memories of the House of Wax, post a comment below.
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25 comments
What are the kiosks intended for?
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Mad Brewer
Sunday, November 4, 2012
I believe the next creations were to be the characters from "Father Ted". The intention was to create them purely from Father Jack`s ear-wax but the unsuitability of that material to be used later for scented candles ruled out the project. Shame. Now there`s a World surplus of ear-wax! Roads need resurfacing round these parts, though.....
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Mad Brewer
Sunday, November 4, 2012
My greatest memory is of the one that actually looked a bit like who it was meant to be. I think it was the Invisible Man.
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Mad Brewer
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Well the wax works has just got a good free advert on tonight's' Have I Got News For You'on the tv. They said ,' it's that bad it's good'. Then Jeremy Clarkson adding his comment saying, 'it was also the towns tourist authority slogan too' .Hah Hah Jeremy !
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vegas
Friday, November 2, 2012
Maybe a new scented candle factory for the closed site?
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Paul Morley
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Maybe a new scented candle factory for the closed site?
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Paul Morley
Thursday, November 1, 2012
As it happens I think George looks like a cross between Peter Noone from Hermans Hermits and the comedian Lee Evans,
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Spooky
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
I visited Louis Tussauds waxworks once and I found that a lot of them were pretty bad likenesses, I spent more time laughing than thinking 'these are good', I didn't want to go again. Madam Tussauds I have visited lots of times because they change their displays and 9 out of 10 of the waxworks are truly superior, I guess though for a small museum like the one in Regent Road, you shouldn't expect the wax figures to be perfect. As for the pictures in your quiz, they are quite hideous, poor Cliff looks like he's having a 'melt down', the one I love though is Posh & Becks, can't stand the pair of them, so having them look so bad is good for me.
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Spooky
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
I welcome development of new luxury apartments.
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Paul Morley
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
I welcome development of new luxury apartments.
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Paul Morley
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Th beatles one at the front ( its that bad i cant tell if its John or George) But it looks more like Mick Jagger!
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Gorlmouth
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
The Exhibits were woeful i mean come on a 1970s Bruce Forsyth!! The Boy George Waxwork was in the display window outside for years. long after he was popular!. Bon Jovi looked like Jim Davidson.Cliff Richard has hair like David Dickenson. Shambles!
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Gorlmouth
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
I'm confused, when was John Craven in The Beatles?
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ThePresence
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Shame to see the old place go although, to be fair, must be 35 years since I last went in. never really seen anybody go in either of late. You should hunt out a song online called Yarmouth First Date by Any Palmer Normal For Norfolk that features the wax works. Includes the lyircs "She looked like a Yarmouth Waxwork, i.e. she looked like sh*te" a lovely romantic ballod
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Mark Smith
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
I thought it was run by Louis Tussaud, silly me ! Still, the place had a certain charm and quirkiness that you won't find elsewhere. By the way, what are GV's ??
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GoodRockinDaddy
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
I liked them when I was a youngster,but when I went in there when I had become an adult I thought they were pathetic as well.oh dear,at least they tried.
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foxey
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
I can also confirm the exhibits are terrible, I know people from all over the country who have had the misfortune to visit the Waxworks & nearly everybody has said "are they really meant to be that bad are the owners doing it tongue in cheek".
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Cynic
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The Beatles one, looks like some of first planet of apes characters
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nrg
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Trevor Sadd said "If the rest of the exhibits are as bad as the ones shown in this article perhaps it is about time it closed". No Trevor they weren't, they were worse.
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John L Norton
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
I've worked for a local taxi firm and one April Fool's Day the radio operator sent out a job "Pick up number 16 Regent Road, two gentlemen named Stanley and Ollie, they'l be waiting outside. The lady driver who spent 30 minutes of her morning driving up and down looking for them was not at all happy when the penny finally dopped. She was ever-so angry. Ive not heard suc language since the Scotch girls left the town. I was shocked...honest. (was bloody funny though)
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fester1902
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Was this place ever meant to be taken seriously?? The only time my wife and i went in there, some years ago, we almost howled with laughter at what was portrayed to be the great Elvis. My wife of course being an Elvis fan.
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Edmund Earle
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
I think it was the sheer awfulness of the wax models that was the attraction of the House of Wax. They seem to have retained the ability throughout the life of the house of wax to make their figures almost completely unlike the person they purported to be. It will be sadly missed along with many of the other rubbish attractions that made Yarmouth Great - the menagerie with a crocodile in a pen the size of a bath, Noah's Ark etc.
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Chris Booty
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
If the rest of the exhibits are as bad as the ones shown in this article perhaps it is about time it closed
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Trevor Sadd
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Wes, pathetic!
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peter waller
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Stupid fingers,grrr.
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wes1975
Tuesday, October 30, 2012