In mid-August 2017, Alton Towers Resort submitted plans to refresh the Courtyard area of Mutiny Bay, which would have seen a new food and beverage offering in the area to compliment the opening of Wicker Man in the 2018 season, with plans suggesting it could have been a smokehouse restaurant. Despite being approved, these plans never came to fruition, with the Courtyard Tavern instead being re-themed to The Welcom-inn to fit in with the newly-opened ride.
In the plans submitted to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, it was proposed to remove the existing “unauthorised” servery, which previously functioned as the Courtyard BBQ up until its closure at the end of the 2015 season. Instead, a new servery would have been created to the rear of the Courtyard Tavern, adjacent to the existing kitchen area. In order to create what was described as ‘new dual access’, the Resort would have reinstated a currently bricked up opening. This would allow guests to still access the bar area of the Tavern from both sides of the building, whilst the new food and beverage unit would only have had access from the Courtyard side.
In the Courtyard area itself, the central canopy was set to be replaced with a new canopy in the same design. The area covered by the canopy was also due to be surrounded by a new glass railing system enclosing the area and giving it some extra protection from the elements. As well as the former Courtyard BBQ servery being removed, the plans also indicated the removal of the smaller canopy as well as the stripping out of the stage which used to be home to The Pirates of Mutiny Bay.
The proposals also detail a number of improvements to the fabric of the main building itself. All of the existing modern doors were to be replaced with timber vertically boarded doors; a number of windows would have been repaired or replaced; whilst several areas of brickwork would be repaired using salvaged brick to match the existing structure.
Although the plans did not state exactly what the new food and beverage offering would be, several of the documents referred to the development as a ‘Smokehouse Restaurant’ suggesting that the Resort may have been planning to offer something similar to the Smokehouse at Chessington World of Adventures Resort. This was further supported by the reference to the company ‘Peppercorn’ in the documents – the same company who worked with Chessington World of Adventures Resort on their restaurant.
