Do you remember Banksy's Dismaland?

Ever heard of the most disappointing amusement park in the UK?

In 2015, world renowned artist Banksy set up a ‘bemusement park’ which brought £20 million to the local economy of Weston-super-Mare.

Kurtis Young told BBC Witness History what it was like working at Dismaland and how he might have met the elusive artist himself.

What was Dismaland?

Under the cover of night, one of the most famous artists in the world transformed a run-down outdoor swimming pool into an interactive art exhibition, which was a satirical take on an amusement park.

It was based on the site of Weston-super-Mare’s Tropicana Lido which was popular in the 1960s, but closed in the 2000s. Locals were led to believe it was a film set for a Hollywood thriller.

Kurtis was 21 years old when he unknowingly signed up to be a steward for the exhibition. He believed he was signing up to be an extra in the film, when he was told that wasn’t the case, he had to sign an non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to ensure the project stayed top secret.

In preparation for the five week-long interactive exhibition, Kurtis had to undergo three days of training and acting lessons in being miserable.

Kurtis explains that “smiling and being too friendly was a sackable offence at Dismaland.” His job was to cause as much chaos as possible, from kicking over children’s sandcastles, to cheating at fairground games.

How popular was it?

The tickets only cost £3.

Fans crashed the website trying to buy a ticket in the process, according to some news reports touts took the opportunity to make some quick cash by selling tickets for £600 a pair.

Everyday 4,000 people visited with booked tickets, and at least 500 people would queue up for three and half hours to get walk-in admission. Around 150,000 people were able to get a ticket online.

It also attracted Hollywood A-Listers.

Kurtis says: “They had Brad Pitt come on down for a special showing. They closed the park specifically for him, Neil Patrick Harris as well.”

Why did Banksy make it?

The park included a lot of elements you would find in a normal amusement park, but with a Banksy twist.

Kurtis’ job was to provide an unpleasant experience to visitors as a parody on consumer culture.

Alongside sculptures and street art, it had installations which commented on a range of topics from climate change to surveillance. There was a darker-feeling carousel, a pumpkin carriage crash inside a castle, and a riot police van in a lake.

Every detail was important, even the employees had to wear a pink high-vis vest with ‘DISMAL’ on the back and a pair of metal Mickey Mouse-style ears made of two paint cans.

When it closed, building materials from the installations were recycled into shelters for people living in the Calais migrant camps in France.

Did you meet Banksy?

Banksy’s identity remains a mystery to this day.

Kurtis says that he remembers seeing a man wandering the site “paying close attention to what was going on, often moving things around and just working on things.”

He seemed “very friendly but not there to have a conversation with you, not there to socialise, just there to do the job.”

“A lot of us did think maybe that's the man himself.”

Kurtis Young was speaking to Reena Stanton-Sharma as part of the BBC World Service’s ‘Witness History’ series, you can listen to the interview, and others in full here.

This article was published in December 2025