We are delighted that planning permission has been granted by Cambridge City Council for a new Ticket Office to be built at the Eastern entrance to the Botanic Garden on Hills Road/Station Road. This new structure will replace the current Ticket Office which is unfit for purpose, improve the street scene and enhance the visitor experience.
The Botanic Garden is one of the first University sites visitors see on arrival in Cambridge via the train station. We want to create an entrance that is both welcoming and will create an appropriate first impression of the Garden, and by extension, the University of Cambridge. The current Ticket Office, which is basic in appearance and facilities, is not adequate for welcoming many of the 350,000+ visitors to the Garden each year.
The new Ticket Office will offer an inviting space where visitors can conveniently purchase tickets, gather information about the Garden’s various attractions and events, and offer more space to engage with our welcoming staff members.
We want visits to the Garden to be as easy and pleasurable as possible.
Professor Sam Brockington, Acting Director of the Botanic Garden says: “We want visits to the Garden to be as easy and pleasurable as possible. New and enhanced facilities at the Ticket Office will also include a shop, toilets, changing rooms, storage and a buggy store. The new ticketing area will also increase the space and number of visitor service points – reducing queues at busy times and allowing visitors to enter and enjoy the beauty of the Garden as quickly as possible.”
He continues: “We are very happy to have this permission. It represents a commitment to enhancing the overall visitor experience at Cambridge University Botanic Garden.”
Numbers of visitors using the Hills Road/Station Road entrance have increased over recent years and currently the only shop is at the opposite end of the Garden, on Trumpington Road. Space for another shop in this new scheme will provide an additional benefit for the many visitors entering the Garden from this side of the city as well as an additional shopping facility for local office staff and members of the public who are passing by.
The new plans also allow for extra toilet facilities. Currently the closest toilets to the Station Road entrance are the (already busy) Garden Café facilities in the centre of the Garden. The new Ticket Office areas will include public, accessible toilets, including a changing places toilet. The increased storage facilities for wheelchairs and electric mobility scooters will also allow increased support for less mobile visitors.
The work will begin at the end of this year, aiming for completion by summer 2025 in time for the busy summer season.
