THE Shakespeare Rose Theatre will return to York next summer and another attraction, an immersive Viking experience, will also come to the Castle Car Park in the spring.

Councillors at an executive meeting were told the Rose Theatre led to an additional £7 million being spent in the city by visitors. But councillors said more should be done to promote York Castle Museum, which reported a drop in visitor numbers over the summer and expressed concerns that it was being hidden by the theatre.

Following the success of the venture, a company that builds themed sets put forward proposals for a temporary Viking hall and immersive theatre to be built on the site from January to May.

Cllr Nigel Ayre said: “The Rose Theatre clearly had a fantastic and highly positive impact on the city. It was a risky move and a bold move that they took.

“The Viking Hall is a very interesting proposal. I think it’s something entirely new, I don’t think it’s been seen anywhere else in the country.”

Lunchbox Productions, which runs the Rose Theatre, will pay the council at a rate of £1,047 per day to compensate for the loss of parking spaces at the Castle Car park, while the Viking hall organisers will pay a higher rate of £1,300 a day. This is because the council said there is no evidence for the success of the project.

Cllr Keith Myers said: “It concerns me a bit that the Castle Museum reported a drop in visitor numbers, albeit Clifford’s Tower and other venues reported exceeding their targets, so there may be something to look at there.”

Councillors heard that Lunchbox Productions is working with the museum to help “make sure that casual visitors are not deterred from visiting”.

Cllr Ian Gillies added that more will also be done to promote Piccadilly car park, which despite making more money than expected, he felt was “still underused”. Better signs will be installed to encourage visitors to use the car park.