AN ABANDONED theme parkwith spooky bunny statues and gloomy tunnels has been left to rot.
Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire, west , shut its gates for the final time on Tuesday, March 5.
It was the biggest theme park in Wales – and
The park had been saved back in 2008 after £25million was put back into it – but that proved just a sticking plaster.
The owners blamed the government's national insurance and minimum wage hikes for making it impossible to carry on.
And now, less than a week after shutting up, the park already looks like a ghost of its former self.
The former children's attraction has transformed into some that looks more akin to a haunted house.
Creepy pictures from the old Nutty Jake’s ride, which first opened in 1987, are particularly eerie.
In 2001 it was turned into the less popular Brer Rabbit's Burrow.
The bizarre bunnies are still standing but are now covered in dust and would be sure to spark some screams.
Some wouldn't look out of place behind some glass in a museum full of haunted objects.
Elsewhere in the park, an iconic pirate ship has run aground for the final time, and now sits with pieces of metal hanging off it.
Bright toy planes that once whizzed children through the air have been lined up and fenced off.
Broken sections of roller coaster track – the backbone of Oakwood – lie strewn around in the mud.
And the mini black taxi carts are still and without passengers.
Oakwood is the latest theme park to fold in recent months – with .
Despite the park's owners citing the UK government as the cause of its financial woes, locals have pointed to another hurdle barring the tourism and hospitality industry.
Some believe that is snuffing out the tourism trade – even before it takes effect.
They say that Oakwood's closure is just the “tip of the iceberg” of the decline that is to come.
The new levy, which could be introduced in Wales from 2027, would see visitors to the country paying a £1.25p per night tourism tax when they stay at , B&Bs and self-catered accommodation.
A lower rate of 75p would be charged for hostels and campsites.
The Welsh government insists the money raised would help fund services in tourism hotspots, but critics say it will deter visitors.
Kevin Hart, who has been running a bar restaurant and caravan and camping site within walking distance of Oakwood for the past 18 years, is “dreading”; the new tax.
