Going Dome for Christmas

The Millennium Dome is about to reopen as you've never seen it before.

Apart from occasional shortlived exhibitions and New Year's Eve rave parties, it has remained empty since the demise of the illfated Millennium exhibition.

But it is about to reopen as a Christmas theme park for a month - which could see it make a profit for the first time in its chequered four-year history.

An events organiser has paid around £1 million to hire the Greenwich site for a Christmas show predicted to bring in 300,000 paying visitors.

Millionaire Elliot Hall, 32, who made his fortune organising the Dubai shopping festival, has spent £4million installing dodgems, a roller coaster and a temporary ice rink. He is confident the Government's biggest folly can finally be made to pay its way, if only for a month.

Mr Hall said: "Dozens of people have told me this was what the Dome should have been all along, a theme park under one roof. Had it been run as that from day one, the crowds would have poured in."

The less attractive corners of the building will be screened by 5,000 conifers sprayed with fake snow, and the smell of pine trees will be pumped through the vast tent.

Since the Millennium exhibition, the Dome has cost taxpayers £250,000 each month for maintenance and security. By 2007 - the latest date set for its reopening as a sport and concert arena - it will have cost a further £12 million.

Attempts to sell it to developers ended in humiliation when the Government was forced to give the site away to US operator Anschutz for a share of future profits. But almost two years after the deal was initiated it has still not been finalised.

A spokesman for English Partnerships, the government agency which owns the Dome land, said: "This event provides enjoyment for the family, enables the public to gain access to the Dome and provides an income to offset running costs."

What's on offer inside

A 25m-high roller coaster; an inverted bungee jump; and a 42m-high ferris wheel. Younger children can also visit a cartoon cinema, Santa's Workshop or a circus - in its own big top.

Admission: free for children under 12; adults £10. An unlimited pass for rides costs £4 for children and £10 for adults. Tickets available at the door.