please empty your brain below

It's not just local museums that charge a lot for a poor visitor experience. I've recently forked out thirteen quid for self and partner to visit Whitby Abbey while on holiday in Yorkshire. On the day we visited it turned out that English Heritage were hosting a 'Swinging Sixties weekend' and we had to try and appreciate the gothic ruins to a soundtrack of My Boy Lollipop broadcast throughout.

Eight quid! What happened to the £2m?

As someone who went to the new Wandsworth Musuem on its opening day, and turned straight back out the door when I was told the admission price, I remain baffled as to what their strategy is.

Eight pounds would get you into some of the finest museums in the world, and I get the impression from DG's post that this isn't one of them. The ability to re-use the ticket for a year is, I suspect, of little use to most visitors who won't need or want to go back frequently.

The current policy seems almost designed to keep people out. I'm sure they'd get more than four times the visitor numbers (and therefore a greater income) if they reduced the price to two pounds.

I'm amazed there are so many borough museums, there is almost one for every borough. It wouldn't be the worst thing if a few merged, creating a fuller visitor experience and giving the savings that are so desired.

North, South, East and West are probably more meaningful divisions of London than the borough boundaries, which are fairly arbitrary much of the time.

Steve - at the last count there were only 20 borough museums, including one shared between Ealing and Hounslow in the manner you suggest.

However, if you think we'd somehow be better off with a "North London Museum", a "South London Museum", an "East London Museum" and a "West London Museum" (however those nebulous areas would be defined), then I'm bloody glad you're not in charge.

I was very involved in the campaign to keep the previous Council-run museum open and haven't quite bought myself to visit the "new" museum. When the original proposal was made to close it, there was no inkling of the possibility of the resident philanthropists coming forward to make their generous donation. The leader of the council doesn't believe local authorities should run or fund local museums or arts centres, hence the rather barren cultural landscape in Wandsworth...

Both Richmond upon Thames and Havering seem to have gained their own museums since then, so the trend is against my desire for amalgamation. If I were in charge we'd only have five boroughs, let alone museums.

The Richmond Museum is a registered charity. Although it covers Richmond upon Thames, it is mainly about Richmond. It has several well heeled patrons. There is another museum just over the river The Twickenham Museum, also a registered charity, local societies started the Twickenham museum and it is housed in an old property they inherited.

Off topic but Greg.Tingey mentioned the Granada cinema Walthamstow.
Closed for a for years now and decaying.
The best hope for that building would be as a church, (who bought it but were refused planning), or for James Hannaway who has restored the Rex Cinema in Berkhamsted, and made a success of it. He had an interest in the Granada building last year, but this year he has just bought the old Odeon St. Albans, (for £1 million) and now needs another £1 million to restore it. Doubt if he could take on Walthamstow as well now.



Are we all being a bit naive here? These 'benefactors' are 'businessmen'. I wouldn't be surprised if they were sold the premises at a reduction to keep the museum going, and if it turns out not to be viable, well could we have planning permission to turn it into a lucrative block of offices perhaps?

hi, i think rogerB is right. follow the money as they always say.

The idea of an entry ticket being valid for a year, I like: the first time I came across this was at the London Docklands Museum (where, for what you get, the admission charge of a fiver seemed entirely reasonable).
Eight quid, however, to see what Wandsworth has to offer seems rather less of a fair deal... to the point of suggesting that RogerB's comments might not be far from the mark.
BTW, the local museum I'm still sad at missing was the one at Erith, which dg got to just in time (see earlier posts)... and I didn't :(

I didn't even know that West Hill Library had closed. I worked there for a year at the end of the 80s, and remember it being the central library of the borough, therefore untouchable.
I also recall reading (on dg?) a couple of years ago that the building then housed a different art/ceramics? gallery (in, I presumed, what used to be the reference library, ie the wing to the right of the front door). Whatever happened to that?

I lived in Wandsworth from 2004 to 2009. The only two problems I encountered were an overzealous parking warden (hardly unique for a London borough) and a town hall staffer with an inpenetrable Asian accent. I remember the council as well-run, efficient and courteous. The recycling scheme was better than I've experinced in any of London's other boroughs and I found the leisure facilities to be top-notch. It used to be said that Wandsworth had more swimming pools than any other borough, but I'll leave it to DG to verify that.

Wayne means the De Morgan Centre and, good as it is that there's a Wandsworth museum once more, it's a great pity that that fantastic collection has gone: http://www.demorgan.org.uk/











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