THE retiring Dean of Winchester Cathedral predicts that admission charges to the great church will be dropped.

When James Atwell became Dean in 2006 it was heading for financial catastrophe, haemorrhaging £100,000 every year.

The Chapter took the controversial decision to charge admission a few months before Mr Atwell arrived and also to stage the Christmas market and ice rink.

Ten years on, he retires this weekend, having just turned 70 last Friday, with the cathedral on stable financial ground and, he says, more firmly at the heart of the community.

Most people do not realise the cathedral gets no funding for its upkeep from either central government or the Church of England. Even with the commercial initiatives, including renting out some large houses in The Close, some years it has surplus of only £30,000.

He predicts the admission charges will eventually go: “The Chapter would like to return to entrance by donation but we would have to find another £800,000 a year. It is on their wish list and they are looking at other ways of increasing income. I will be surprised if we are still charging in ten years.”

One possibility is charging for the exhibitions in the three-level space in the South Transept, the prime subject of a £20m appeal, with just £1.5m left to raise.

Although some people have disliked the hugely popular ice rink and the Christmas market, Mr Atwell says that as well as saving the cathedral’s finances it has served a pastoral role.

“I would say we have put the cathedral back at the heart of the community at Christmas. I hope I have managed to make the cathedral a friendlier and welcoming place, where people feel at ease.”

He has tried to make the cathedral a place open to people of all faiths, not just Christian and is proud that Muslim imams and Jewish rabbis have spoken.

Reflecting on his time, Mr Atwell said: “It has been quite emotional. I have had 46 years in the ministry and in the past I have always been moving on to something new. It is different now, this is my final job.”

Asked what he will most miss, he said: “It’s the people, the cathedral congregations, the community and the interaction with the county, the cities, the universities. It has been an immense privilege to be welcomed in all sorts of places by all sorts of people, not as James Atwell but as the dean.

“But it is a very demanding job, 7.30am often to 11.30pm at night, it can be seven days a week.”

His successor is being interviewed in July. There have been some fears that with the Bishops of Winchester and Basingstoke both on the evangelical wing of the church things are getting out of kilter.

Mr Atwell does not think there will be a problem.“It’s known the cathedral has to be a broad church, has to serve the whole spectrum. I’m sure when the appointment is made that will be the prime consideration.”

The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Tim Dakin, is on the interviewing committee but it is chaired by Lyndsay Fox, the vice lord-lieutenant of Hampshire and former High Sheriff.

Mr Atwell will move from Winchester as per the convention and will be sharing his time between a home in Wiltshire and one in Cambridge, close to Bury St Edmonds where he was Dean for 11 years.

* This afternoon the dean is hosting a street party in the Cathedral Close that will be both a celebration of the Queen's 90th birthday and his retirement. There will be a farewell choral eucharist in the cathedral at 10am on Sunday followed by a evensong at 3.30pm.