Medieval underground street tour at risk of closure

A unique tour where people walk through an underground medieval street is at risk of closure.

The Shoebox Experiences in Norwich has received notice from its landlord to vacate the building by mid-April.

The landlord said he wanted "better use of the facility" and that conversations about the building's future were ongoing.

The social enterprise said it had been left "absolutely devastated" by the news but that it remained determined to keep the tour running.

"We're a bit confused because we don't know what’s going to happen with the building," said customer service manager Lisa Willett.

"It's such a unique building, we can't see how the street is going to be used in a different way."

The building on Castle Meadow, leased by The Shoebox Experiences, provides access to the underground street.

About 40,000 people have been on the tour since it was launched in 2017, organisers say.

It is thought the underground street was originally a dry defensive ditch that was used to protect Norwich Castle.

It served as a narrow street for local traders for about 400 years, starting in the early part of the 15th Century, before being built on in the 1930s.

"If you were to go back a couple of hundred years, you would have had crowds of people walking to and fro where we're standing today," said Max Darbyshire, a tour host for The Shoebox Experiences.

"It's quite touching to think of the many many people that have experienced this place over the centuries."

The Shoebox Experiences says money generated from its tours funds local community projects in Norfolk.

The landlord of the building said he wanted the space to remain available to charities and that it "made sense" for the tours to continue somehow.

He said further conversations would be held later this year.

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