Oral Answers to Questions

Christian Matheson Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2017 Commons Chamber

The right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, was asked—

[Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)]

10. What steps the Church of England has taken to promote churches and cathedrals as tourist destinations.

[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Dame Caroline Spelman)]

The Church of England actively promotes its 42 cathedrals as visitor centres, and together they contribute £220 million to the national economy. There are 10 million visitors to them annually, and 7,000 people are employed by them, supported by 15,000 dedicated volunteers.

[Christian Matheson]

Is the right hon. Lady aware of the excellent work of the clergy at Chester cathedral in increasing visitor numbers through tourist attractions, which of course has the added bonus of getting people into the cathedral for its original purpose of worship, and is there a lesson for other cathedrals to learn from this?

[Dame Caroline Spelman]

Yes, and I encourage all Members to visit Chester cathedral. Last year I invited the vice dean, Canon Peter Howell-Jones, to come and talk to us about how he had turned the fortunes of Chester cathedral around, making it a very attractive visitor attraction, and introducing a brewery and a falconry centre, opening the tower for tours and, intriguingly, removing the entry charge for all of that. He has now moved on to a new appointment and I wish him every success in that new cathedral.