Talk:Kursaal (amusement park)

Closure of outdoor amusements
I'm pretty sure that the outdoor amusements must have either survived, or been reopened, at least in a much reduced form, into the early 1980s, as I recall going there once, and watching the Wall of Death. I was old enough to go out by myself, (born 1971), so this cant have been earlier than the very late 1970s. This remnant eventually closed, and housing was built on the site, with the entrance being closed, and left all but derelict until its later refurbishment and reopening.Philculmer (talk) 07:14, 14 September 2016 (UTC)


 * @Philculmer I have updated the page, as too I remember the wild mouse sitting next to Woodgrange roundabout. The Southend Council assessment for the Kursaal conservation area says the majority of the amusement park was closed. I cannot see anywhere on the web other than Coastapedia, which has no refs, which says the Wild Mouse was open until 1986. Davidstewartharvey (talk) 17:25, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Kursaal Palace (building) and Kursaal amusement park
This article is titled Kursaal (amusement park) and the first sentence reads "The Kursaal is a Grade II listed building[1] in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, which opened in 1901 as one of the world's first purpose-built amusement parks.” This is wrong. The listed building is The Kursaal Palace, which was in the centre of the amusement park. http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/theatres/show/1837-kursaal-southend-on-sea

"the main Kursaal building reopened in 1998 after a multimillion-pound redevelopment, containing a bowling alley, a casino and other amusements” Only the shell of the original building remains: "the local council intervened in the 1990s when the building was becoming increasingly unsafe, and, save for the dome, its supporting walls and the façe, it has now been virtually demolished and rebuilt as a leisure complex which includes a bowling alley” http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/theatres/show/1837-kursaal-southend-on-sea Robocon1 (talk) 17:05, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Name
The article contained some wrong information about the name. I've already corrected it, but edits by IP's are sometimes quickly reverted and then it's all gone and forgotten. The article said that "Kursaal" means "spa" and that the name was likely chosen to imply "healthy entertainment". This is hardly correct. The word "Kursaal" refers to the main banquet hall of the "Kurhaus", itself the main entertainment venue in a traditional German spa town. In the late 19th century, spa towns like Bad Ems, Baden-Baden, etc. were what St. Tropez or Monte Carlo are today: major tourist destinations for the upper classes of Europe. So when they called it "Kursaal", they didn't go for healthy, they went for exclusive, fashionable, noble. 88.65.40.59 (talk) 01:11, 5 September 2022 (UTC)