HC Deb 21 February 1990 vol 167 cc921-2
8. Mr. Gregory

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people visited the Tower of London on Sunday mornings during 1989; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Trippier

The only part of the Tower of London currently open to the public on Sunday mornings is Tower wharf, for which admission is free. No statistics are compiled on visitors to the wharf, but it is estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 visit the area on an average Sunday morning in summer, and a few hundred in winter. Many summer visitors go on to enter the main Tower precincts as paying visitors when it opens to the public at 2 pm.

Mr. Gregory

Is not it a national scandal that the Tower of London—a national treasure trove—is effectively closed on Sundays in winter, and is open only on Sunday afternoons in summer? Is my hon. Friend aware that many British citizens and overseas visitors want to see the Crown jewels and other artefacts in the Tower of London? When will he unlock the Tower, or are its treasures to be seen on Sundays only by the ravens and beefeaters, while the Tower remains closed to citizens and visitors alike?

Mr. Trippier

I am happy to tell my hon. Friend that the practicalities and economics of earlier or all-day Sunday opening are currently under review. Sunday mornings have been regarded as providing, particularly in the summer, a much-needed break in the Tower's working routine—certainly for the warders and perhaps for the ravens, too. I confirm that the new chief executive of the royal agency is carefully examining the case for opening the Tower earlier on Sundays.

Mr. Tony Banks

As the Tower of London is still a very secure place, and given the Prime Minister's interest in security—judging from the preposterous Nicolae Ceausescu memorial gates that she has had erected at the end of Downing street—would not it be appropriate, if we are all concerned about the right hon. Lady's safety, to bang her up in the Tower and throw the key in the Thames?

Mr. Trippier

I have a better idea. I recommend that the hon. Members for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks), for Ashfield (Mr. Haynes) and for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) be locked in the Tower. That would increase the number of visitors. It would not deny those hon. Members the right to speak in debates because, when they spoke in the Tower, we could hear them down here.

Several Hon. Members

rose——

Mr. Speaker

Order. It is a pity to waste a question on that sort of thing.