York Dungeon - Criticism

Criticism

The Christian community in York raised concerns in 2004 about a Christmas show at the dungeon called Satan's Grotto and asked the dungeon to stop the show. Reverend Roger Simpson of St Michael-le-Belfrey church said "There are real evil forces . . . We are concerned the attraction has the potential to do real pastoral harm." A spokesman from York Dungeon's responded that "It is all tongue-in-cheek" and should not be taken seriously.

York Dungeon offered free entry to people subject to anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) for the weekend of the 26 May and 27 May 2007. The dungeon was "widely condemned for a controversial decision" with criticism coming from victims of crime, York Councillors and Hugh Bayley, the Member of Parliament for the City of York, who commented:

This is a publicity-seeking gimmick which goes too far. The public needs protection from anti-social behaviour and York Dungeon shouldn't be rewarding people who have been sentenced to an ASBO by the courts.

The manager of York Dungeon said "I thought it might shock the ASBO offenders a little to see what would have happened to them a couple of hundred years ago", but the Dungeon reported that no one took up their offer of free admission.

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