Greg Dyke, the current BBC director-general decided the centre, which was built in the basement of BBC Broadcasting House, was not cost effective. BBC Experience allows people to try their hand at directing EastEnders, presenting the weather forecast or reading the news. Even with a 7.95 entrance fee, the attraction has never broken even. There were 100,000 visitors last year but double that number were needed to break even. Its closure will save the corporation 500,000 a year which will be ploughed in to programme-making.
Staff are to be told of the closure plan today.
Some may be redeployed as guides for the BBC Television Centre tours. BBC Experience cost 5m to develop and 1m a year to run. But only half of the money was recouped in admission charges and corporate hospitality fees. The decision to close was made after the BBC was faced with an expensive refurbishment to update the Experience with new technology. It made us look at the Experience and think we didn't want to do it.