HEATHROW VISITOR CENTRE TO CLOSE
 

Todays' Heathrow Skyport details (p5) that the BAA Visitor Centre will close shortly to make way for a staff training centre.
The way the article is written it seems to be that a similar facility will be created subject to space and security considerations.

Ouch!
I haven't been to LHR for a while, but does this mean that there is now nowhere 'official' for spectators?? T2 and T3 car parks used to be popular in my day, but presumably people now get moved on regularly due to security...

Sorry, but hasn't the Visitors Centre been closed since Sept 11th 2001 - it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that BAA are doing this.

Jordan

Ohhh, I love that place i go there once in a blue moon, Whats going to happen to the displays ?

4th June is mentioned in the article to co-incide with LHR's 60th birthday celebrations.
Bad news. Nowhere else officially to go for enthusiasts. Hope that something new and useful will be installed.

Also at the visitor centre the parking charges have gone up considerably to stop people parking there for a day for £7 rather than the short term car parks. A day at the visitor centre will now cost the same.

Most of the enthusiasts will again be forced to go elsewhere around the perimeter with the increase problems that will bring.

Suggest that whoever is doing this visit the likes of Manchester, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Munich, Geneva, Amsterdam and many others to see just how facilities for the public / enthusiasts are provided - they might learn something.

The day the BAA provide decent observation facilities at their aiports will never come. All they aqre interested in is making money. Shops and parking are their priorities, not enthusiasts and casual visitors.

Although I have never been there, the fact that the visitor centre at LHR is South Facing put me off immediately. Taking pictures or "spotting" into the sun (if there is any!) is a non starter.

IF, and it's a big if, they do consider a replacement centre, then Southside somewhere in the vicinity of Myrtle Avenue would probably be better. However, as I have already said, I think the chances are zilch.

skiddy

It is a shame that some kind of 'secure' viewing facility couldn't have been incorporated into the new T5. But I agree BAA's interests are purely the bottom line and the short term view. Clearly they are not interested about certain aspects of PR that may not yeild immediate cash benefits. :=

Foxile

Call me dumb (!) but I would have thought that it is in the BAA's interest to have somewhere that spectators can congregate and thus be 'controlled'. After all, nothing will stop people looking - and what about people who drop off travelling friends and relatives and want to 'wave them off' ??

Anyone remember the old days when not only was there a large spectator area, but at weekends a bloke used to sit in a little 'observation room' and commentate over the tannoy??

Eeeee, it's not like it used to be...

OK, you're dumb! :} Sorry, couldn't resist!:E

I know what you mean. It seems they'd rather tie up the security staff with investigating "lurkers" around the perimeter than make a modest sum with a dedicated viewing area.

Has anyone thought to actually ask them what their policy is re casual visitors, families seeing people off and enthusiasts? I ask because I'm a bit out of touch here! I know they are working for a "travelers only" airport but I cannot see how that will ever work.

skiddy

Unfortunately spectators are a very low priority on BAA/HAL list of to-do items. Although the call for a dedicated spectators area is on-going, it will never be inside the airport due to security reasons. There is a minimum fence and screen height for all areas accessible to the public, so viewing would be through a glass/perspex fence. The cost for re-enhancing and making QB roof back into a viewing area runs into the high several hundred thousands of pounds. Not viable. Then the arguement is, that why should BAA spend so much money on enhancing and securing the spectator viewing areas, when so very little revenue is gained from it.
I'm sorry but there will be no viewing gallery inside any of LHR, also the cost of running the Visitor centre is too great for so few returns, so close it to the public and turn it into a training centre. Sound business decision.

Oh, by the way, it's not security who patrol the surrounding perimeter fence but the local police. I do recall several weeks ago whilst waiting for transport near the northside, a lonely solitary spectator was perched on a ladder taking innocent pictures of the aircraft. I remarked to my colleague that I didn't fancy his chances when PC plod see him up his ladder. Low and behold, minutes later an entire van load of them decended on him, and gave him a free lift away from the area. So no more climbing of ladders either. :-)

How would nI go about getting to the LHR Visitors Cente?

I remember in 2000 when me and my dad went for a day of spotting at LHR we looked for this centre but couldn't find it anywhere.

Is it easy to get to from one fo the tube stations near the airport, or indeed the airports stations?

I'd like to visit it before it closes and I'm down in London next week.

Can you still spot from the car park roofs or are you moved before your car wheels stop turning?

Apologies for the error Gonzo. How does one get to this visitors centre before it closes, if you're going to Central Area by tube?

Jordan

Not just at weekends in the summer - frequently on weekdays as well 10 am to 5 pm - ish. Am thinking mid-1970s, if not a little later. One thing I do recall was a guy who used to call any One-Eleven series 200 to 400 a "small BAC One-Eleven", while a 500 was just a "BAC One-Eleven". Fair enough, I guess.

When did the Queen's Building terrace close ? I was last there in 2002.

Jordan D, no need to apologise! :D

I would imagine that the bus that shuttles between Waterside, Central Area, Hatton Cross, T4 etc goes right past it on the peri road. I believe that the bus is free, but perhaps someone with more knowledge in this regard might help out......

My wife and are are avid spotters and I'm a past Heathrow employee.

Back in the 60s there were at least two commentators on the Roof Gardens, based in a well-equipped box overlooking the apron on the airside of the Queen's Building. Between commentaries they played popular music over the PA syste - hence my love of Glenn Miller and Mantovani!!! I got to know Stan Little and Flo Kingdon through telephoning them for registration numbers when I saw anything interesting arrive. Stan (little by name, little by build) was an avid spotter who introduced me to Air Britain. Flo' was not a spotter but always willing to help. Stan passed on many years ago but Flo' is still alive and well, although long since retired from working at Heathrow.

"Spectators" who erect ladders are surely asking for trouble. My wife and I have spent many hours standing close to the 27R threshold, spotting and photographing aircraft with no problems at all. We park our car on a convenient grassy patch and police and BAA security vehicles have passed us in their dozens with no hint of any objection to what we were doing. Guess they view two old codgers as no-risk.

And what *exactly* did he do wrong, climb a ladder to take a photograph of an aircraft, or something slightly more serious?

SF

Jump on one of the buses that goes along Bath Road (the 140, for example) at the Central Bus Station. I think you need to get off roughly near McDonalds, and then cross the road. It's quite easy to find. :)