The Gobbins To Re-Open At The End Of June

The Gobbins Cliff Path in Co Antrim is to re-open at the end of June.

The attraction was forced to close last year after extreme weather conditions caused higher levels of rock falls along the path.

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough, Councillor Audrey Wales MBE, said: "We were very disappointed last year to miss our first peak season due to the unavoidable closure.  Our visitor figures had already well exceeded our targets for the period and our feedback worldwide had been, and continues to be, extremely positive.

"The Gobbins is an outstanding natural and sometimes unpredictable attraction and the only guided adventure walk of its kind in Europe.  Over recent months we have been working to dislodge loose rock through scaling and the majority of that work is complete.  We have been looking at options for the areas around the ends of the bridges, to ensure that they aren’t damaged during the scaling process and we will now move to complete that element of the maintenance work.

"Council had budgeted around £2 million for its maintenance work, which included work to restore the access path following Storm Frank in 2015.  We have spent about a quarter of that budget to date, so this next phase to get The Gobbins open represents a significant investment in growing the local economy in Mid and East Antrim through the creation of sustainable jobs and tourism.  Mid and East Antrim has a fantastic range of tourist attractions, from Carrickfergus Castle to Slemish mountain and we have been committed, together with our partners in Tourism NI and Tourism Ireland, to promoting all our assets on a world stage."

(CD)