The Westgate Pavilion’s Mad House Maze is up for TWO UK and European Scare awards

Mad House has been nominated for two awards by ScareCON

A “bonkers, scary, freaky” Halloween attraction at the Westgate Pavilion  has been nominated for a national awards.

The Mad House was staged at the venue for the first time last year and received rave reviews from visitors and ScareTOUR reviewers.

Westgate Pavilion director Lee Williams was the brains behind the terrifying maze based on the fictitious St Mildrith’s Waterfront Institution -nicknamed The Madhouse – an cross between a hospital and a prison where doctors performed outrageous experiments.

He created it with the help of family, including wife Sonia and kids Charlotte – who designed the maze and Jemma and Paige, who were both scare actors.

SCARE STARS: From left:Charlotte, Lee, Jemma, Sonia and Paige

He said: “It was a real family affair. We all all took part in building, decorating the maze and the auditioning and training of scarers.”

ScareTOUR glowing review

The ScareTour team took a visit to the site last year and said in their review: “The Mad House has to be one of the most bonkers, scary, freaky and terrifying mazes we experienced this Halloween. It’s really  hard to explain why we loved this maze so much – it was generally a collection of random scenes – some hilarious, some bloody terrifying and it would seem that the team just threw everything they could imagine at the attraction hoping that something would stick. Fortunately for them, it all worked so well.”

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ScareTOUR, created by ScareCON, reviews scary attractions around the UK.

The awards

ScareCON hosts the annual awards recognising attractions and those working in the ‘scare’ industry.

This year, which is the 10th for the awards, The Mad House has been nominated for Best Halloween Scare Attraction and Best New Event.

Lee said everyone from the Pavilion and the Mad House event is delighted. He said: “We are totally blown away with the nominations.

“To be nominated in the top 6 scare attractions across the UK on our first attempt is mind blowing. We just didn’t, realise, despite all the comments we had, how good it actually was.

“We had a group visiting the UK from the USA who said it was the best scare maze they had ever been to and they visit as many as they can, and another visitor saying “that’s what a scare maze is.”

“To get this nomination in a top award is just unbelievable. We thought we would get the best new event nomination from the review as its one of the best (and I’ve read them all) but best Scare Attraction OMG!”

The award winners will be revealed on June 23 at an all-day event at Alton Towers. Lee and his family will be attending the event and hoping they scoop top prizes.

Mad House Maze 2017

If you missed it last year, don’t panic, Lee confirmed The Mad House will be back this year – with two scare mazes and a scare escape game.

And you could get involved. Scarer auditions are being held at the Westgate Pavilion in Sea Road on April 30 from 10am to 2.30pm. Find the event here

Find The Mad House Maze facebook page here and the Westgate Pavilion here