Sir Henry says new attraction at Glendairy could contribute to economy

One of Barbados’ most prominent historians has sounded an early warning to officials not to destroy any of the five buildings at the old Glendairy Prison as they seek to develop a tourism-related project at the site.

What is more, Sir Henry Fraser is urging Government to reconsider a 25-page proposal he presented some eight years ago on behalf of the Barbados National Trust for a combined prison museum and an entertainment centre.

The former university lecturer told Barbados TODAY he believed the old prison had the potential to contribute significantly to the island’s economy.

With this project, he said, Barbados would make history of becoming the first in the Caribbean with a prison museum and multifaceted entertainment centre.

“The male block is the attraction as it is, and at the end of the block is the gallows room and everybody loves to see the gallows room. The second thing is to have a kind of display and this kind of display could go in the main building at the front where you are featuring the history of crime and punishment in Barbados and you have all sorts of illustrations with big lovely posters and photographs to keep people interested,” he said.

Sir Henry said the female block, kitchen and dining areas and workshop can be used for “all sorts of things”, including microbreweries, restaurants, food courts, pubs, bars, boutiques, and craft shops.

“This could be the biggest entertainment centre in Barbados,” he added. “If it was then developed as a summer camp for children, think of all the things you can do with the children – you could put in a swimming pool that is supervised, you could have a trampoline and have a petting place for some black belly sheep and rabbits.”

Sir Henry said it would be “a total scandal” to demolish any of the buildings that were built with coral stones over 135 years ago.

“I very much want to caution against demolition because there is no need to knock it down to make it function in the multifaceted way I am describing. The male block is the pièce de résistance. It only has to be cleaned up,” he said.

“I don’t see a need to demolish anything and I think it would be scandalous to demolish any of the three main buildings. I can see that there is a case for building other facilities there.”

On Tuesday, lawmakers announced the vesting of the approximately 9.296 hectares (22.7 acres) of land containing the old prison to the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTI) for tourism-related development.

While Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance Dr William Duguid indicated his agreement with a prison museum for the location, Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley objected, saying he did not believe it would attract a lot of people each year given that it did not have the kind of stories of that other famous prison museums boasted.

However, Sir Henry, who was the master of ceremony at the decommissioning of the prison at the end of October 2016, told Barbados TODAY there were some 500 people who showed up for a tour of the location with it only being advertised for 24 hours.

“My point is, this is not just for tourism, this is an entertainment centre for Barbados,” said Sir Henry.

“All of this is wasted opportunity. So, I am saying the outlay on restoration would be modest because the majority of the buildings you just have to clean up, you don’t have to repair it. It would complement our UNESCO World Heritage Site and it would have all kinds of ripple effects because the local communities will be involved on all levels. The job opportunities there are many,” he added.

Declaring he had no financial interest in the proposed development, Sir Henry said he was aware of “businesspeople with an entrepreneurial spirit” who would be willing to take it on, and some of them have been talking with Government over the past five years.

Sir Henry said all the Government had to do was put out a tender through the BTI for a long lease arrangement for a private investor to carry out the project.

“It would boost the tourism income because it improves and enhances the brand of Barbados and it also provides massive employment and interest to the people of Barbados. So, it is both a local and visitor attraction and it has many implications for the economy at every level and Government does not have to spend a cent. Government does not have the resources and the skills to develop this,” he said.

He explained that in addition to the new buildings, other investment needed was for the cleaning up of the existing buildings and putting in fixtures to ensure safety.
(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)