New owners sought for artificial ski slope

A dry ski slope thought to be the longest in England and Wales has been put up for sale by its owner.

Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre in Matson has been listed for £625,000 through Knightsbridge Commercial.

The site is being described on RightMove as having "an extensive asset register of key plant and equipment valued at circa [£]1.6 million".

Centre manager Cameron Singer told BBC Radio Gloucestershire the owner is selling the centre to focus on his main business and staff hope new owners can be found.

"The owner has another business and he wants to focus on that - it's his primary business," he said.

"We're hoping that we just move onto the new owners [and that] there will be no closure."

The sale of the centre was listed privately until Singer agreed for the listing to be made public.

"More people get to view it and that can only be a good thing," he said.

"It'll continue as a ski and snowboard centre, that's the aim."

Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards, the first Briton to compete in Olympic ski jumping, began his training at the centre and said he hoped it could be kept open.

"I did hear it was up for sale a while ago and I was told there was a buyer involved but obviously that must have fallen through," he said.

"It's still going strong, I still miss it. I still go to Gloucester every once in a while. It was my home when I was a child.

"I have very fond memories of it and I hope somebody buys it and carries it on."

The site was built in 1973 but went into liquidation in 1975, reopening the following year.

In 1977, the original "ski mat" material was replaced with Dendix, which is still in use to this day.

An extended 260m-long (853ft) dry ski slope was opened in 2012, after the centre was bought by new owners earlier that year.

It has been used as a venue by several national ski and snowboarding competitions.

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