Bristol Airport has been mocked after unveiling a “multi-faith area” that social media users say looks more like a bus shelter.
One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, jokingly included it in a list of places “dedicated to the worship of God” – where it is pictured alongside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
Bristol Airport announced the opening of the new multi-faith area in a post on X, saying it can be found on the site’s free waiting zone “just off the Silver Zone roundabout”.
The airport’s post added: “The new area provides customers with a private space to reflect and pray whilst waiting to collect friends, family or loved ones.”
Photographs of the multi-faith area, which appear to have been captured after it had been raining, show a basic four-walled structure with an opening.
There is a sign illustrating someone on their knees praying to indicate the structure’s purpose.
Fiona Shoop replied to the airport and said: “It’s a lovely idea but badly done, unfortunately – looks like a bus shelter and there’s no door which means it will be freezing and wet, not exactly conducive to quiet reflection.
Hero crane operator says Reading fire rescue was ‘very close call’
Ex-prisoner gives rare and shocking account of what life’s like in a women’s jail
Mark Fay: Serial motorbike thief who told police ‘catch me if you can’ is jailed
“Just had to check this isn’t a parody account.”
A fellow social media user, “Mike”, sarcastically wrote: “It’s absolutely beautiful, and congrats to the photographer for capturing it so well.”
Father Mark Elliot Smith, rector of Warwick Street in London, was less amused – writing: “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to pray the Rosary in a space that will be cold, bleak, and smelling like a urinal. Frankly, it’s an insult.”
And another X user, R Hutchinson, quipped: “Are we praying for the bus to turn up or does it just look like a bus stop?”
Bristol Airport told Sky News: “The new multi-faith space has been created for customers to use whilst at the airport waiting for family and friends in the free waiting zone car park, situated one mile away from the terminal.
“We’ve experienced an increase in customers requiring a multi-faith area in this location.
“This newly created space was provided after consultation with users of the car park to provide immediate shelter and dignity prior to winter – it has been welcomed by the users.”
