THE JORVIK Viking Centre has celebrated a successful year back in business with the news that visitor numbers are up.

Managers at the attraction raised a celebratory glass of mead with Norse warriors in honour of the anniversary of its re-opening this week.

The Coppergate tourist hotspot was closed for more than a year after the devastating floods of December 2015.

At the height of the flood the underground museum which was supposed to have been sealed was under water, triggering a rescue mission to save all the irreplaceable Viking artefacts and objects it is famed for: wood carvings, combs made from antler, the famous coin die.

It re-opened its doors to the public on April 8, 2017, after a massive refurbishment programme that cost £4.3 million, almost one third of which was raised via donations from charitable trusts and foundations, local companies and various other organisations.

The work re-imagined the Viking centre, using the very latest technology.

Now new figures have revealed that in the year since re-opening, the attraction has welcomed more than 420,000 visitors.

In the nine months preceding the flooding, the centre drew 260,000 visitors, which equates to an average rise of around 6,000 visitors per month.

Sarah Maltby, director of attractions at York Archaeological Trust, said: “This has been a remarkable year.

“We’d set ourselves a target of increasing visitor numbers to Jorvik Viking centre by over 30 per cent since re-opening, and we’re delighted to have achieved significantly more.

“We are on track to hit our two-year target of 500,000 visitors to Jorvik alone by this time next year.”

Changes made to the centre during its makeover include making the ride through the collection of Viking artefacts slower than before.

Sarah said: “We were aware [it] would have an impact on our peak capacity, but the more spacious galleries enable visitors to spend more time looking at artefacts recovered on site, as well as touring exhibitions from the British Museum and Ashmolean Museum.”

In addition to the strong visitor figures, a new piece of research commissioned during York’s Year of the Vikings shows that it brings in at least £18 million to the local economy.

The current exhibition, which includes the loan of the Watlington Hoard, a rare collection of coins and hacksilver discovered in Oxfordshire, will remain on display until May 21.