Liverpool’s National Conservation Centre will close to visitors as a result of government cuts. The city centre venue will close at 5pm on Friday 17 December.
National Museums Liverpool, which is funded by central government, received a 15% cut to its budget in October. This was on top of a 3.5% earlier this year. Managers have been working to maintain its world class venues and safeguard jobs as much as possible.
Several staff at the venue are likely to be affected. Managers are working with those people to identify any alternative opportunities within the organisation.
Since opening in 1996, the Whitechapel venue has served a dual role – as a visitor venue and as a place for museum staff to carefully conserve and restore objects. Behind-the-scenes conservation work will continue and will not be affected by the closure of the visitor part of the building, which occupies only 10% of the space.
Dr David Fleming, Director, National Museums Liverpool, said:
“We bitterly regret having to close one of our venues to visitors but this is the harsh reality of government cuts. If you cut public spending there is pain for the public.
“The National Conservation Centre was a very popular venue that staged many fantastic photographic exhibitions and other events over the last 14 years.
“We said that a 15% reduction in our funding would have grave implications for us being able to maintain our world class museums and galleries. We are now seeing the impact in terms of a venue closure, following the loss of a number of posts through a voluntary severance scheme.
“We have been scrutinising every aspect of National Museums Liverpool to make savings and we cannot avoid making decisions like this.
“Despite budget cuts, all our venues will remain free entry so as many people as possible can enjoy the wonderful things we have to offer and we are determined to ride out the funding storm. This is a major reason for keeping open Sudley House and Piermaster’s House.”
‘Reveal – the hidden stories of objects’ – the permanent display at the National Conservation Centre, is to be retained and moved to World Museum for visitors still to enjoy.
Image: The National Conservation Centre
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk