Campaigner's vow to 'stand in front of bulldozers' if memorial not proposed for Summerland site

Development plans yet to be confirmed

A campaigner has vowed to 'stand in front of the bulldozers' if anything other than a suitable memorial is proposed for the Summerland site.

Fifty people died, on 2 August 1973, after a fire ripped through the leisure centre on Douglas promenade.

Now there are questions about what to do with the brownfield site where it used to stand.

Three years after the fire, in 1976, a new Summerland - on a smaller scale - was built in its place; it was something some family members of the victims say they never wanted.

It closed in 2004 and demolition took place in 2006; however the ruins are still visible.

It was in front of this site in 2023, on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, that victims' families, survivors, and campaigners gathered to remember the dead.

They called for the site to become a permanent and appropriate memorial.

Tina Brennen witnessed the building burning from the cliffs above Summerland and is clear in what she would like to see:

The site is owned by the Department of Infrastructure and the Manx Development Corporation - the government-funded company created to regenerate brownfield sites on the Island- has been asked to carry out a number of surveys on it. 

Managing Director Dane Harrop spoke with Manx Radio's political correspondent Phil Gawne about the future of Summerland:

Whilst questions are asked about the future of the site itself, the Justice For Summerland Campaign Group is making moves on one of its other core objectives - seeing the inquest into those who died reopened and an overturning of the verdict which claimed their deaths was as a result of 'misadventure'.

Human Rights law firm Phoenix Law has accepted instructions to act for the families of the victims and has written to the Island's attorney general.

The AG's Chambers has told Manx Radio it is currently giving consideration to the contents of the letter and will respond in due course.

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