Sadness of theme park fans as Chessington's Bubbleworks closes

Chessington's Bubbleworks ride is to close, the theme park announced today.

The much-loved attraction, which delighted hundreds of thousands of people since its opening 26 years ago, is to shut at the end of the summer.

The children's ride, which sees people travel through a fizzy drink workshop in floating bathtubs, completed 15 million circuits over its life of nearly three decades.

It is not known what will be built in its place.

A spokeswoman said: “We will be announcing in due course what new attraction we will be opening in 2017."

"That is all we can say for now but rest assured it’s something we’re all very excited about and we’re sure you will be too.”

Fans of the ride were genuinely upset by the news.

Megan wrote: "Bubbleworks is closing down. It was the bain of my life as a child and as an adult. It will be sorely missed."

Another wrote: "Can't believe they are closing bubbleworks at Chessington. Sadface."

Another simply wrote: "This is not ok."

A petition has been launched to keep it open which so far has 134 signatures.