"We have had children in tears" - Wonder in the Meridian Centre Havant to close its doors for the final time following council dispute

Wonder World of Imagination will be holding its leaving party on Saturday, July 26 in the Meridian Centre due to financial issues. Owners Gavin and Marnie Waller, of Portsmouth, have been critical of Havant Borough Council claiming it has faced silence when trying to find a solution to the issues.

In response to the claim the council told The News they had given “ample time” for the business to meet its financial commitments and a “repayment plan” was agreed but debts continued to accrue. It said it would provide formal notice “in the coming days”.

Gavin has advised that a month on they have still not received that notice and have set the closing date for this Saturday.

He said: “We still have had no formal notice to leave or any response to our emails sent, nothing. There has been some public anger over the situation as well, we have had children in tears, and parents telling us how our site has been a saving grace for them in the area.

“We owe money, it is unacceptable, and we are doing everything we can to pay the money owed. Commercially they are in their rights to ask us to leave but for me it is their conduct and process. They are a local authority that is there to serve the community and we are a business in that community.”

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While acknowledging they would not be staying long term in Havant, they had hoped to see out their tenancy until September and be open for the summer holidays.

Gavin said: “It is all a bit of a mess. We hoped that we may at least be granted a two or three month notice period into the summer holidays, I know a lot of our customers would have welcomed that. We had to take the decision to leave so that we had a plan.”

The council have told The News that they have responded to company’s email which told them of their closing date, with the rest then handled by the managing agent for the unit.

A spokesperson for Havant Borough Council said: “Following an email received by Havant Borough Council on Monday, June 23 informing us that Wonder’s last day of trading would be Saturday, July 26, the council responded to Mr Waller on Monday, July 7 stating that the matter had been passed to our managing agents to make the necessary arrangements on our behalf. This is standard practice.

“We can confirm that our managing agents have been liaising with Mr Waller to facilitate Wonder’s exit of the Meridian Centre over the past month.”

While Wonder is closing in the Meridian Centre, its branch Fareham is unaffected and remains open.