HISTORY IN THE MAKING AS NEW £26.9M MUSEUM PROJECT BEGINS

September 22nd, 2005

Work is set to start this week on the new £26.9m Leeds City Museum and discovery centre.

The project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Leeds City Council, the Single Regeneration Budget and Yorkshire Forward will see the Grade II-listed Civic Institute building off Millennium Square transformed into a state-of-the-art museum, while a purpose-built discovery centre is also being created near Clarence Dock.

Due to open in 2008, the new Leeds City Museum will feature four floors of exhibitions and a large central arena. The exhibitions will include “Ancient Worlds” – looking at life and death in ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, and the “Natural Sciences” Gallery which will explore the variety of life on our planet and in Leeds, examining the environmental issues confronting us today.

The “Treasures” Gallery will explore what makes objects valuable and why people collect them, while the “World View” Gallery will initially focus on Africa and its culture. In addition, an entire floor will be devoted to the history of Leeds and its people from the earliest times to the present day.

The exhibits will feature interactive elements to challenge and interest budding archeologists of all ages, as well as showing well-loved objects such as the full-size Giant Irish Elk, the Leeds Tiger and the legendary Egyptian Mummy which dates back 3000 years.

A focal point of the museum will be the Central Arena, which will have moving film shown from big screens suspended from the ceiling. One of the main attractions will be a stunning large-scale map of the city on the floor, which will enable Leeds residents to literally walk on their house!

Leeds City Council Executive Member for Leisure Councillor John Procter said: “The new Leeds City Museum and discovery centre are going to provide us with some of the finest museum facilities to be found anywhere in the country.

“It is a highly exciting project and the plans for how both buildings are going to look are fantastic. These are going to be wonderful, educational attractions for people to come and visit, and the people of Leeds will be very proud of these great new facilities for generations to come.”

In addition to the featured areas, the new museum will also have added space in which to host touring national exhibitions or community exhibitions, while balconies on the first floor will enable visitors to look down on the Central Arena. Other facilities will include a café and spaces for education or holding conferences.

The discovery centre near Clarence Dock will house the bulk of the Leeds collection, which consists of thousands of remarkable pieces. The new development will mean that museum objects that have been hidden away since the 1940s due to a lack of exhibition space will once again be on public display.

Due to open in early 2007, the discovery centre will have more of an emphasis on research and education than the main museum, with a wide range of collections to see from the fields of natural sciences, archeology, anthropology and human history.

Publicly accessible by prior booking, the new discovery centre will be ideal for educational visits, students conducting research and specialist study groups.

Entry to both buildings will be free of charge, with the aim being to attract families and individuals of all ages and backgrounds from Leeds as well as community groups and tourists.

As part of the biggest Heritage Lottery Fund award of its kind in Yorkshire (£19.5m), a large-scale public consultation process was carried out throughout the city to find out what people wanted to see in the new facilities. This was conducted in supermarkets, libraries, schools, seminars, focus groups and special interest groups as well as questioning Leedscard readers to find out their views, with the findings playing an integral part in the final plans for the project.

Heritage Lottery Fund Regional Manager for Yorkshire and Humber Fiona Spiers said: "This is an exciting moment for the city - the beginning of work for the creation of an innovative and much-needed museum plus a complementary discovery centre. "This is the Heritage Lottery Fund’s biggest grant ever to the region - an amazing £19.5million - and we are confident that this new museum will help develop the city's Cultural Quarter, making it a centre for economic and social regeneration."

This is excellant news, we've waited years for this museum to get started. The old one was quite good in pleasant but cramped surroundings. This new development sounds like a top class museum, to add to our Royal Armouries and Medical museums (and Abbey House, Armley Mills and Thwaites Mill museums and art gallery.)

All we need now is a descent modern art museum, do you think they want to open a British branch of The Guggenheim ;)

To be honest, I'm sure they would if they had the money. But I bet if they did it would be in London, or the surrounding area...

To be honest, I'm sure they would if they had the money. But I bet if they did it would be in London, or the surrounding area...

I'm not sure that it would. They chose Bilbao for the Spanish Guggenheim afterall.

yeah but in this country things seemed to be biased towards the south, london particularly, something that doesn't quite follow in Spain.

This looks like quite an impressive project. For comparison's sake, the Imperial War Museum North cost £28.5 million, so you should come out with a stunning museum at the end of this.

yeah but in this country things seemed to be biased towards the south, london particularly, something that doesn't quite follow in Spain.


Yes look what a fuss was made by London based pundits when the move to Leeds of the Royal Armouries took place !

Yes look what a fuss was made by London based pundits when the move to Leeds of the Royal Armouries took place !
True. A fair number of Southerners think they should have absolutely everything down there, and we should have nothing up here - that the North should be some forgotten backwater. The Leeds Supertram seems to be a classic example of that - this almost certainly gets rejected, whilst London gets the Olympics with £12 billion spent there on facilities - the stadium and its transport links, plus the £10 billion Crossrail project. And of course there is the £4 billion Terminal 5 project at Heathrow Airport, the £5 billion Channel Tunnel Rail Link (which probably won't mean Eurostars linking Paris or Brussels to Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow etc). Need I go on?

yeah but in this country things seemed to be biased towards the south, london particularly, something that doesn't quite follow in Spain.
Britain seems to be the only country in the world where everything gravitates to just one region.

Britain seems to be the only country in the world where everything gravitates to just one region.


I reckon France must be a close second.

Yeah but other regions get money to. I was in Grenoble earlier in the year where they are building the 3rd extension of the tram network, pretty self explanitory.

I reckon France must be a close second.
Several of its cities have tram networks - Strasbourg, Lille, Grenoble, Montpellier etc, not to mention high speed LGV lines that are completed (Paris-Lille-Calais-Brussels, Paris-Le Mans, Paris-Lyon-Marseille), under construction (Paris-Strasbourg), and projected (Paris-Bordeaux, Barcelona,Turin and Milan). However, the CTRL under construction from the Channel Tunnel to London is effectively part of a LGV Paris-London high speed line, with only 69 miles of it in the UK.

Found these

http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/images/Feature0057_06x.jpg

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/5915/leedsbiggerto4.jpg

I think itll be good when its finished; theres alot of stuff to go in.

The circular centre looks like a waste of space - huge area but the only exhibits are a few pictures...

Totally agree. A load big pictures really isn't good enough for a 21st century museum, especially in such a potentially brilliant space. If this is the centrepiece of the museum, I dread to think what the rest of it will be like.

Having said all that, I guess we should wait to see it for real before making too many judgements!

I used to go to the college of music when it was based up there and even did a spot of sound engineering on the side in the auditorium part of the civic Institute and I seem to recall it being a fairly decent size. Certainly alot bigger than the animation suggests (unless those people are giants).

The renders are only conceptual.
I hope Stephen Burt and Kevin Grady are appointed to write the museum's text.

Certainly looks better than the existing museum how much space would there be for exhibits and would there be space for temporary installations and am I guessing that it would have free entry like many other museums like the National Media Museum and Royal Armouries? Also what is to happen to the old museum (which I confess I haven't been to since about 1992) is that to become an extension to the art gallery or library or is something else going there? Finally are there any plans to try and encourage any more tourist attractions into Leeds?

am I guessing that it would have free entry like many other museums like the National Media Museum and Royal Armouries?The NMM is a national museum like the NRM in York. They don't charge for entry these days because they get central government money. Other institutions, like the York Castle Museum and the Yorkshire Museum are controlled locally, so they charge for admission. However, they do have a scheme nowadays, whereby local people can get in free if they bring along their library ticket as proof of residence. You never know, they might introduce a similar system for the LCM and Discovery Centre.

I can't wait for the museum..the sad thing is a whole generation of kids have grown up here in Leeds with no well rounded city Museum... they should have only closed the old one when the new one was ready.

The museums we have are great but so narrow..we have the war and media and Railway and coal mining which are very narrow interest field and are on the whole largely male orientated , and we have plenty of decently cheap or free industrial museums to cover this part of local history... and several very expensive museums in York and also Leeds medical museum.

But nothing affordable and broad...the old Leeds museum was fantastic..I took the kids there fir a hour or two each holiday when they were very young and there was always something new that caught their interest... it hosted such a fascinating collection.

The best museum in my opinion locally at the moment for general interest is the Cliff Castle museum in Keighley it has always been superb as well as free. How daft is that! Keighley has a better museum than Leeds!



The Museums based in London..this is not so bad now that they are free... because from all big city locations London is easy to get to by train ... when they were expensive it was disgusting them being based there because again a whole generation of kids have been financially unable to visit these as these were suddenly charged for at a time the country was in rescession and even so if you could manage to pay for a cheap family day ticket to London you have nothing left to pay to get into museums and with kids you need an hour or two at the most at a time little and often or you put them off museums! You take kids to London they want to ride the underground round and round and go on the long long escalators and see the sights and the river ..there are too many other interests to be able to drag them to museums. I loved museums as a kid because they were free I could just go to them locally or in London on the train when I was older . I fear we have a new generation of kids who will enter the world of work very soon who have lacked this cultural part of life as schools are scared of running trips to as well as museums having been too expensive for families schools they do not take kids on the museum trips like they did in the past.

Also what is to happen to the old museum (which I confess I haven't been to since about 1992) is that to become an extension to the art gallery or library or is something else going there?

lol..I can tell you've not been for a few years as the it actually closed just under 10 years ago! It became part of the Library when they did that up . The museum contents have been stored in Yeadon all these years. The art galley works started now too.

I had it in my head the new one opened in 2007... so it's actually 2008?

I've spent many an hour in the old Civic theatre/bar/crypt/rehearsal rooms whilst performing amateur dramatics along with Jimbo ;)

I have to say that I am disappointed by the current visualisations and agree that the circular space appears to be a waste in its design. What else to do with it? I leave that to you to decide.
I do however look forward to visiting it once complete.

I can't wait for the museum..the sad thing is a whole generation of kids have grown up here in Leeds with no well rounded city Museum... they should have only closed the old one when the new one was ready.

The museums we have are great but so narrow..we have the war and media and Railway and coal mining which are very narrow interest field and are on the whole largely male orientated , and we have plenty of decently cheap or free industrial museums to cover this part of local history... and several very expensive museums in York and also Leeds medical museum.

But nothing affordable and broad...the old Leeds museum was fantastic..I took the kids there fir a hour or two each holiday when they were very young and there was always something new that caught their interest... it hosted such a fascinating collection.

The best museum in my opinion locally at the moment for general interest is the Cliff Castle museum in Keighley it has always been superb as well as free. How daft is that! Keighley has a better museum than Leeds!



The Museums based in London..this is not so bad now that they are free... because from all big city locations London is easy to get to by train ... when they were expensive it was disgusting them being based there because again a whole generation of kids have been financially unable to visit these as these were suddenly charged for at a time the country was in rescession and even so if you could manage to pay for a cheap family day ticket to London you have nothing left to pay to get into museums and with kids you need an hour or two at the most at a time little and often or you put them off museums! You take kids to London they want to ride the underground round and round and go on the long long escalators and see the sights and the river ..there are too many other interests to be able to drag them to museums. I loved museums as a kid because they were free I could just go to them locally or in London on the train when I was older . I fear we have a new generation of kids who will enter the world of work very soon who have lacked this cultural part of life as schools are scared of running trips to as well as museums having been too expensive for families schools they do not take kids on the museum trips like they did in the past.


lol..I can tell you've not been for a few years as the it actually closed just under 10 years ago! It became part of the Library when they did that up . The museum contents have been stored in Yeadon all these years. The art galley works started now too.

I had it in my head the new one opened in 2007... so it's actually 2008?

What a great post.

When i see people lost at Clarence Dock, asking directions to the armouries, i always think there should be something broader, more inclusive and centrally located for parents to take kids to at holiday time. The armouries is well presented and full of intresting things but... it's a gun museum. It really belongs in York, as one component in a wide range of tourist attractions. People were never going to traipse all the way to Leeds for what is, to me anyway, a museum of limited interest and not somewhere that encourages repeat visits.

Your're right about the crap timing of the museum move too. A whole generation of children has been denied an opportunity to share a resource that belongs to every child in Leeds by right , poor show.

The NMPFT/ National media museum was always my favourite as a kid because it had such a varied range of subject and activity. My sister and i have been known to communicate using only the ridiculous noises which were heard in the museum back in the '80s (does anyone remember the yellow back-lit buttons that would give you a snatch of Al Jolson when pressed? Oh well, never mind). Sad but true.

I remember going round the old museum in the Libery ages ago, the new museum will have a lot more exibts than the old museum, this will be a great museum for Leeds.

I remember going round the old museum in the Libery ages ago, the new museum will have a lot more exibts than the old museum, this will be a great museum for Leeds.

I remember the old museum in Park Row before:cheers: it got knocked out by a bomb in March 1941. The prize exhibit was a very fierce looking stuffed tiger in a glass case. :cheers:

WASTE OF SPACE?

I really cant understand why people are casting judgement on this from a few visuals. i believe this wasted space is called exhibition space. try goin to the british mueseum or tate modern to see there "vast areas of wasted speace". open space stops places becoming dark and stuffy. we should want this place to be a light and airy space that people want to visit.


and also reserve judgement til it has opened and we can see it in the flesh.

cant wait for this to open personally.

The museums we have are great but so narrow..we have the war and media and Railway and coal mining which are very narrow interest field and are on the whole largely male orientated , and we have plenty of decently cheap or free industrial museums to cover this part of local history... and several very expensive museums in York and also Leeds medical museum.

But nothing affordable and broad..

I agree. In 1996 when the Royal Armouries was opened i wrote to the paper and said that I would have much preferrred the cost of £42 million to have been spent on a concert hall (I think the cost of Bridgewater in Manchester at the time was exactly the same) rather than a museum in effect devoted to the art of killing!

I've spent many an hour in the old Civic theatre/bar/crypt/rehearsal rooms whilst performing amateur dramatics along with Jimbo ;)

I have to say that I am disappointed by the current visualisations and agree that the circular space appears to be a waste in its design. What else to do with it? I leave that to you to decide.
I do however look forward to visiting it once complete.

......painting sets in the crypt, sweating in the loft space rehearsal rooms, lusting after certain unattainable ladies, whoops, enough sport (and still do ;) ). Hope Oz is treating you well sport!

I've not seen enough of the visuals to make an honest comment, but the central room (lecture room), should be spectacular and treated as the centrepiece. It was never meant to be a theatre, but was the Mechanics Institute with an oval/elliptical lecture room in the middle. The stage was built across one end, and served community theatre very well for years.

anyhoo,

I agree. In 1996 when the Royal Armouries was opened i wrote to the paper and said that I would have much preferrred the cost of £42 million to have been spent on a concert hall (I think the cost of Bridgewater in Manchester at the time was exactly the same) rather than a museum in effect devoted to the art of killing!

Oh don't tell Rob that! He and my lad love the Royal Armouries museum! Funny thing was one year we went down to the Tower of London to see some of the exhibits there and they'd all been sent up to Leeds on loan for a temp exhibition!



The Royal Armouries is a great museum...I quite like it as it cover such a wide history and is really very well presented... and of course it is sooo way better than that empty war museum in Manchester! lol! Have you bee to that one..it's a total joke! Now that one is a total waste of space! Too many museums now just have lits of flashing lights, buttons to press, big simplistic plastic oversised replicas to feel and lots of picturs and posters..rather than actual exhibits! ..oh dear I must be getting old....


I remember the old museum in Park Row before it got knocked out by a bomb in March 1941. The prize exhibit was a very fierce looking stuffed tiger in a glass case.
... wow... that's very impressive to know the origional museum. I hope the new one does justice to all these homeless years the collection has suffered.

The Royal Armouries is a great museum...I quite like it as it cover such a wide history and is really very well presented... and of course it is sooo way better than that empty war museum in Manchester! lol! Have you bee to that one..it's a total joke! Now that one is a total waste of space!

... wow... that's very impressive to know the origional museum. I hope the new one does justice to all these homeless years the collection has suffered.

Well, I have more memories like that. Being an old codger my memory banks are quite full and as long as I am able to access when rquired them I will be happy.
No, I have not been to the museum in Manchester so I cannot express an opinion about it.
Regarding the Royal Armouries, it was ironic in the extreme that its opening in March 1996 was overshadowed by the terrible incidents at Dunblane which involved firearms.

rather than a museum in effect devoted to the art of killing!

also a museum devoted to the art of surviving ... as some of it's exhibits are for use in defence (Lee Enfields, Brens) as well as attack (Mausers, MP40s).

also a museum devoted to the art of surviving ... as some of it's exhibits are for use in defence (Lee Enfields, Brens) as well as attack (Mausers, MP40s).

Point taken.

Cash crisis hits move for new museum in city
By DAVID MARSH
Municipal reporter
A MOVE to convert a former city centre theatre into a museum has hit financial problems
Council bosses in Leeds are now trying to find more cash for another of the city's flagship leisure projects that has run into financial trouble.
The latest to face a funding shortfall is the £27m scheme to convert the former Civic Theatre in Cookridge Street into a new City Museum.
It follows budget shortfalls which hit work on the recently opened Carriageworks Theatre in Millennium Square and the new international swimming pool and diving centre under construction at the John Charles sports complex in Beeston.
Just over £27m was set aside for the museum with the money coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and Leeds City Council. But it has become clear the project – due for completion in autumn 2008 - is going to cost more.
Senior councillors will next week discuss a confidential report which gives an indication of the budget shortfall.
The council says that for reasons of commercial confidentiality it is unable to reveal publicly the size of the funding gap.
Support
A section of the report that is available to the public says that while the HLF has been approached for more support, further lottery cash is unlikely to be provided.
Council officers are looking at ways of plugging the gap. A museum storage building in Sovereign Street is to be sold and the proceeds will be put into the City Museum.
Advertising on sheeting which until recently was in front of the former Civic Theatre during the building work raised more than £147,000 for the council.
More than £18,000 of that income will be used to help meet the shortfall. The rest is needed to help the council meet its revenue income target.
Councillors will be told next week that the overspend has come about because of a number of unforeseen circumstances.
They included the need for remedial timber work, the instability of walls and some rebuilding, a sub-floor was found to be unstable and brickwork for a roof was unsound.
Final costs for the Carriageworks Theatre have yet to be revealed but are likely to be at least £2m over the original budget.
The council has said it will reveal the scale of the swimming pool overspend when the scheme is completed.
david.marsh@ypn.co.uk
22 January 2007


YEP

http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1985486

A MOVE to convert a former city centre theatre into a museum has hit financial problems
Council bosses in Leeds are now trying to find more cash for another of the city's flagship leisure projects that has run into financial trouble.

Just over £27m was set aside for the museum with the money coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and Leeds City Council. But it has become clear the project – due for completion in autumn 2008 - is going to cost more.

When will the powers that be ever learn that these things ALWAYS cost more than forecast? They are invariably subject to what is known in the trade as "optimistic appraisal". Besides the schemes mentioned in the article, it also happened to the supertram scheme and the proposed ballet school on Quarry Hill. It happened to the Royal Armouries Museum as well - as regards attendances and running costs - and only the fact that the government gave the public free entry to such establishments allowed it to survive and flourish.

Is it stupid to ask why most if not all private projects are fixed-fees while all public are open-end and once the contractor (ie Multilplex) feels that he might squeeze just a few millions more, they don't waste a chance?

Is it stupid to ask why most if not all private projects are fixed-fees while all public are open-end and once the contractor (ie Multilplex) feels that he might squeeze just a few millions more, they don't waste a chance?

It's not stupid at all - if that indeed is the case !

The sheeting has come off most of the front of the museum now..

I think once this is finished, Millenium square will be superb, best part of Leeds even.

I believe there's going to be a cafe 'spilling out' on to the Square in the warmer weather - this should be excellent if the council runs it (reasonably priced 'coffee' rather than expensive 'trochalottalattechino', and 50p cans of Coke rather than £2 glasses of Coke)

I think this is a great project.

The key to it from an 'outsiders' point of view (although I lived in Leeds during my uni days) is the location. Millennium square is the kind of area where visitors to the city are likely to go and can easily find.

Sheffield has just had a similar situation with the Weston Park Museum being completely refurbished and a similar amount of money spent on it. It is a great thing for the locals, but due to the location of it (northern edge of the city centre) it will not attract many 'outsiders'. Typical of Sheffield generally, full of good things but tricky to find unless you know the area well.

This is where Leeds succeeds very well, having things like this in prominent and worthy locations, easy to find and therefore more likely to be successful.

Good stuff.

If it has a cafe that will be very good; I dont think that the restaurants up there at the moment attract enough people to give Millennium Square vibrancy.

I believe there's going to be a cafe 'spilling out' on to the Square in the warmer weather - this should be excellent if the council runs it (reasonably priced 'coffee' rather than expensive 'trochalottalattechino', and 50p cans of Coke rather than £2 glasses of Coke)

That seems to be a problem in Leeds generally.

Paying £5 for a bottle of beer is not going to give any outsider a good impression of Leeds, particularly if the 'product' sold is not only the drink but an experience of interacting with a surly bar worker and having to endure views of a rotting alley off Call Lane.

As the scaffolding comes down on the new City Museum, I've been trying to find out about the museum's resource centre. This, as I understand it, is where most of the overflow is to be stored but which can be accessed by schools, serious scholars, stundents and the like. It's a new building somewhere near to Clarence Dock but I've never seen any building work going on to signify its presence.

Until now, that is because I think this is the museum resource centre:



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/13%20Feb%202007/P1010035.jpg?t=1171406725



My theory is based on nothing but the fact that it's clearly a new build, it's right behind Clarence Dock (on Carlisle Road), and it's not a workshop or student accommodation. Sadly, there was no signage to confirm or deny my theory and nobody around that I could ask. But I would welcome someone with more knowledge putting me right.

That apart, I love this building, and if you're looking for a new material (being bored of terracotta tiles, grey panels, etc) then check out the glazed black bricks at ground level. They're corking!

As the scaffolding comes down on the new City Museum, I've been trying to find out about the museum's resource centre. This, as I understand it, is where most of the overflow is to be stored but which can be accessed by schools, serious scholars, stundents and the like. It's a new building somewhere near to Clarence Dock but I've never seen any building work going on to signify its presence.

Until now, that is because I think this is the museum resource centre:

My theory is based on nothing but the fact that it's clearly a new build, it's right behind Clarence Dock (on Carlisle Road), and it's not a workshop or student accommodation. Sadly, there was no signage to confirm or deny my theory and nobody around that I could ask. But I would welcome someone with more knowledge putting me right.

That apart, I love this building, and if you're looking for a new material (being bored of terracotta tiles, grey panels, etc) then check out the glazed black bricks at ground level. They're corking!

It is a new build and hard to spot even from Clarence Road because it is set in a very large car park.

Until now, that is because I think this is the museum resource centre:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/13%20Feb%202007/P1010035.jpg?t=1171406725

That apart, I love this building, and if you're looking for a new material (being bored of terracotta tiles, grey panels, etc) then check out the glazed black bricks at ground level. They're corking!


I've seen this building whatever it is, it's sexy . Some steel handrails would have made it look even better. Looks like this area is on the up.

Any pics of the resource centre Fred, or were you referring to this?

this is the resource centre, they had signs up when it was being built

this is the resource centre, they had signs up when it was being built

Thanks for clearing that one up.

right on cue

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/8863/img1352vm0.jpg

the glass skylight boxes have been covered in the reroofing, but to be fair it difficult to really see what has changed so far. The biggest change will be the removal of the stage and opening up of the oval lecture room.

Hope this doesn't get delayed or runs out of cash. It should be prioritised as a v.important city centre project.

this is the resource centre, they had signs up when it was being built

This is one of the signs that was in Clarence Road taken almost a year ago.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q281/nosmo2/PIC01427.jpg

The museum will be a great addition to the goverment quater of the city.

After looking at a post on the UK forums about quarters, what would you say that out quarters where and where would you say they where:

All I can thing of is:
Civic Quarter.
Shopping District.
Business Quarter.
Universities Quarter.

Civic Quarter and Universities are all the same area really. There's usually Civic, Retail, Financial and the riverside quarter & calls district; ie the riverside corridor.

Its said the museum will open in 2008 with the appropiate expansions but now with the scaffolding coming off would the completion date be shorter.

Its said the museum will open in 2008 with the appropiate expansions but now with the scaffolding coming off would the completion date be shorter.

i read not long ago (in the YEP?) that there had been a shortfall in funding for the museum. Hope this has now been resolved.

where is this resource centre located?

where is this resource centre located?

Clarence Road - as has already been stated.

A rare occasion where the finished product looks better than the render?

Clarence Road - as has already been stated.

sorry about that, i couldn't find it

and yes, the final product does look better than the render, i've got to check out those black glazed bricks!

Latest shots of the main museum building.



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/16%20April%202007/P1010024.jpg?t=1177147917



What caught my eye was the fact that the roofline looked slightly different from what I remembered before the scaffolding went up. Looking at pre-restoration pictures, it's the roof over the loggia that's changed. The ornamental leadwork along the top is a new addition but I think it's a recreation of what was there originally.



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/16%20April%202007/P1010025.jpg?t=1177148008

This is not exactly the right thread, I know but it's the most appropriate one I can think of:

FAIRYTALE RE-OPENING FOR REFURBISHED ART GALLERY

It will be a midsummer night’s dream for the newly-refurbished Leeds City Art Gallery as it prepares to re-open on the evening of 21 June. An official civic reception will be hosted the celebrate the gallery’s £1.5m rejuvenation on the evening of 21 June, after which it will open its doors to the public once more from 10am the following day (22 June).

Art lovers will be delighted to learn that there will now be even more opportunities to visit the gallery as opening hours are also being extended- up to as late as 8pm in the first half of the week.*

The renovation programme has been funded by Leeds City Council and Yorkshire Forward, who donated £1.3m to the project. It has meant a raft of imaginative upgrading to the building and its display spaces, with a new exhibition area, lift for improved access, a café and shop.

The main aim was to restore and make use of disused spaces and one of the most striking examples of this is the painstaking restoration and unveiling of the Victorian Tiled Hall. This awe-inspiring and beautiful room, which had been closed off and hidden behind library shelves for many years, forms a natural link between the Art Gallery and the adjacent Leeds Central Library.

A newly-created entrance means that visitors will be able to move seamlessly between the two and also enjoy a break in the larger café, which will be relocated within the hall. It will seat around 75 people and will serve high teas and other sandwiches and snacks, with a big emphasis on superior quality Yorkshire-sourced produce.

It is more than half a century since the public have seen the hall, where intricate, colourful Victorian tile work, marble columns and the oak, ebony and walnut parquet floor have been lovingly restored. Meanwhile, the Art Gallery itself is benefiting from a number of significant improvements, such as new oak flooring on most of the ground floor, extending into The Ziff Gallery. It is also being given a general sprucing-up of its décor.

A new exhibition space has been created, which benefits from a sophisticated air management system. This will enable curators to bid for high-profile international touring exhibitions as well as allowing preparation and installation of new exhibits in a dedicated environment without impacting on the rest of the gallery.

Access has been improved for everybody with the help of a new lift and the opening up of the area between the art gallery and the library on the first floor. The Art Library has been relocated to be much handier as people move between the two buildings.

Cllr John Procter, executive member for Leisure, said: “A lot of thought has gone into improving the experience for visitors at our wonderful art gallery. It is widely known that it houses one of the finest contemporary art collections in the country and we want a space to display our artworks worthy of that.
“New signage and accessibility will improve visitor flow around the building, making for a much more logical route around with natural links to the upstairs space. The Victorian Tiled Hall will undoubtedly be one of the most spectacular café settings in Leeds and the entire environment will be far more pleasant and enjoyable. There is still a lot left to do, but this is a brilliant first step.”

*Once the official re-opening ceremony has taken place, Leeds City Art Gallery will be open to the public for longer, with new hours as follows:
Monday & Tuesday 10am-8pm; Wednesday noon-8pm; Thursday, Friday & Saturday 10am-5pm; Sunday 1pm-5pm.

A friend of mine who worked on the project went to get a sneak preview and said that the hall is quite amazing and was astonishly well-preserved given that all of its decorative features had been covered up many years ago.

You can actually go and see the tiled hall now - if you go to the Library ther is a new big fat glass door you can look through - it does look epic! Should be a nice alternative eating spot.

I read also that the council is looking for catering partners to provide services in a few of their notable public building around Leeds including the Library/Art Gallery:
Here in fact.........
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/files/pressReleases/2007/month5/inter_6290761B1421BFD9802572EB0050FE26_PR_1.pdf

You can actually go and see the tiled hall now - if you go to the Library ther is a new big fat glass door you can look through - it does look epic! Should be a nice alternative eating spot.


City Council's press release ahead of this Friday's reopening of the City Art Gallery:


EXCITING EVENTS IN PLACE FOR ART GALLERY RE-OPENING
Artists, musicians, puppeteers and a ‘wanderer’ will be amongst the performers at the launch weekend for the newly re-opened Leeds Art Gallery. From 22 -24th June there will be an explosion of activities as well as a first chance to see the stunning, newly restored, ‘Victorian Tiled Hall’ linking the Art Gallery and Central Library, and a new exhibition space.

On the Friday there will be live music, poetry recitals, artists’ talks and creative writing workshops throughout the day. Saturday sees Leeds-based artist collective, Hurray Hurrah, will respond to the gallery’s new Fairy Tale Contemporary Art and Enchantment exhibition by creating an interactive wallpaper in the Gallery’s ‘Living Room’ area and Yorkshire’s love affair with Indian culture continues with a dance and drumming workshop with Leeds-based group Annapurna.

In a Pied Piper-esque performance, specially designed for the weekend John Barber will spend all day ‘wandering’ throughout the building, stinging the metropolitan visitors into thought as urban green man ‘Robin Goodfellow.’

For the kids (and adults too!) there’s a Jack and the Beanstalk puppet show and a workshop by the ‘Paper Engineer’ Robert Crowther will show guests how to make their own colourful pop-up books.

The weekend is sure to set the tone for an exciting new era at Leeds Art Gallery, with a diverse range of artists providing material for the forthcoming Trading Spaces exhibition which runs for the next year. A sophisticated, newly installed air system will pave the way for high profile touring exhibitions to come to Leeds.

Roger Palmer’s ‘Botany Bay’ (22 June - 12 August 2007) will use innovative photography to focus on the waterways and working vessels that helped build Leeds up to the city it is today.

Following Palmer’s exhibition will be Home/Acasa (13 September – 28 October 2007). Two Romanian artists now based in Bradford, Gabriela & Valentin Boiangiu, have created an interactive piece of art which is constructed, literally, from postcards they have invited artists from around the world to send in.

For fans of Sin City and Pulp Fiction comes Cult Fiction, Comic Art (27 September – 11 November 2007) explores the relationship between popular media – specifically comics, cartoons, illustration and contemporary art.

As well as the new and newly hung pieces, visitors will be stunned by the restoration work in the Victorian Hall, revealing original marble pillars, as well as the tiled walls with sculpted portraits of Homer, Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, Burns, Scott, Horace and Macaulay. The restoration of the new hall will reveal the stunning roof which is divided into segmental arches, each arch composed of a mosaic in red, buff, grey, blue and green hexagon bricks with golden bosses.

Further information about the opening weekend and forthcoming news from Leeds Art Gallery available by request, or go to www.leeds.gov.uk/artgallery As a result of the £1.5 million facelift, the central library now boasts a new lift, enabling full improved disabled access.

I went surfing to see what I could find on the reopening of the Art Gallery and came across this set of posts. Can I thank you all for your interest as I am very closely involved in the New City Museum project. It is nice to see people recognising the positives in Leeds. I blew into Leeds over a decade ago and adore this city as it has been so good to me.

I thought I could clear up a few things for you without getting into trouble.

The Leeds City Museum was originally a private museum located where the HSBC is now on Park Row. Built in 1818 for the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society (still going but now based in the Uni) it was an academic institution designed to bring the world to Leeds not tell the story of the history of Leeds. This formed the basis of the fantastic world cultures and natural sciences collections the museum holds. The Phil & Lit handed control of the museum over to Leeds City Council in 1922. Bombed in 1941 large amounts of the collections were destroyed or heavily damaged. The building was condemed in the early sixties and the museum moved to a temporary home in the Central Library in 1969. Thirty years later as part of a planned move based on where funding could be found the museum moved to a (then) unique open access store called the Museum Resource Centre in Yeadon (behind Murgatroyds). The museum continued its education work and received over 10k school visits a year until last year. There has been a hiatus as the collections were cleaned and repaired for redisplay, Sovereign Street has been closed and now almost everything is in the new centre called the Museum Discovery Centre. This is the beautiful building posted above. It will offer limited access to prebooked public and schools from next month - and yes signage will be in place when it opens.

The new City Museum will open in August next year, You will have noticed the main building works are coming to a close. The architects Austin Smith Lord from Manchester sign off shortly and the project moves to internal fit out to build the displays. I have had the privilege of seeing the engineering works in progress. The whole building has had to be underpinned as it was just built into soil and was headed down the slope towards Great George Street! You will appreciate these sorts of engineering tasks soak up time and money and it is a credit to Laing O'Roukes that the project has not been delayed significantly.
The new City Museum will be a significant destination for Leeds visitors and more importantly will be free. It will contain much more than the old Library museum but will still have the 'famous' Leeds Tiger Fred2 mentioned earlier in pride of place in the new Natural Sciences Gallery. It will also tell the story of Leeds for the first time, and what a story. The cafe will be operated by a local caterer with a good reputation for service and will not be trying to compete with the classy but expensive bars opposite.
Keep an eye out in the press for openings for the Discovery Centre.

Our other major improvement has been the £1.5million refurbishment of the Tiled Hall in Municipal Buildings. MB was for many years the council offices, Main Police Station and Central Library. The Tiled Hall set at the front of building now was originally tucked away down the right hand side, have a look and you will see the main entrance faces the Town Hall. Originally it was the Gentlemans Reading Room and later became the Art Gallery's sculpture gallery. In the late 50's it was 'modernised' and enclosed with a dreadful melamine skin. Detailing was smashed and underneath the room was wrecked. None of this was obvious and it functioned as the Business and Technical Library for many years. The introduction of DDA laws allowed the bidding for improvement funding and last night the result of over six months closure was shown for the first time. It is a stunning space linking the Library and Gallery for the first time in half a century, the tiling detail is fantastic and overseeing the whole space are a number of famous writers (although one remains smashed unless any of you have a spare £10k?). The Gallery itself has been opened up to finally realise its potential, completely rehung, definately worth an hour or two of your time. It is as always free to visit, even the temporary exhibitions (unlike London galleries). A new and vastly improved Cafe and shop area will keep you entertained as well. It was announced last night that the City will be bidding for further funding to completely revamp the Art Gallery.

Long post, but thank you again for your positive comments, I hope I answered some of your questions.

Hi,Thanks for the info 2112... welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the info 2112. I heard on the radio the other day that the Conservatives plan to scrap free admission to museums again when they next get in power. Grrrr

Many thanks for that 2112. We used to love the old museum and took our kids, it was a little treasure trove of interesting bits and pieces. It is shame we've been so long without a proper City Museum (Royal Armouries is excellant, but rather specialist), so we are really looking forward to having this museum. Sounds like it will be worth the wait.

Looking forward to seeing the refurbished art gallery, will probably pay a visit in the next weekend or two. Good value cafes in the museums and gallery are always good news too, as they finish off the visit in a civilised (but affordable) manner.

This is the beautiful building posted above. It will offer limited access to prebooked public and schools from next month - and yes signage will be in place when it opens.
great! Do you have more details? To arrange a group visit do we just ring up?

Can't wait for the Art Gallery to open... I've friends going to the opening but I think its just by is by private invitation. But I can't wait for it to be up and running again!

A warm welcome, thank you.

I will find out next week if the Discovery Centre is taking public bookings and will let you know. I have seen schools in already.

We are not funded by central government but are part of Leeds City Council. Although some of our museums have a small charge we are considering offering free admission on production of a valid Leeds Card sometime soon.

We will also have a decent portal for our museums and galleries online by the end of the year as well. The information is a bit scrappy at the moment. I hope you don't mind the following guide.

Leeds City Council - Museums and Galleries

Abbey House Museum, Kirkstall - Victorian Social History and Leeds street scenes. The cafe comes under the same ownership as the Art Gallery in the summer, large free car park, Kirkstall Abbey opposite (see below)
Armley Mills - The Leeds Industrial Museum - over 30 railway engines, film and photography, ready to wear clothing (remember Marks & Spencers and Burtons started in Leeds) and a working 1920's cinema complete with 'Love Seat'.
City Art Gallery - considered to be one of the best collections of C20th British Art outside of London. Free.
Discovery Centre - see last post. Free.
Kirkstall Abbey - A fairly complete Cistercian Abbey. A daughter house to Fountains but more remains standing and what is missing is mostly in the foundations of Leeds Bridge. A new visitor centre opened last year in the Reredorter (Lay Brothers toilet!) and has had over 60k visitors already. Free admission.
Lotherton Hall - Edwardian Country Hall set in parkland east of Leeds. Free Bird Garden and excellent childrens playground but Hall admission and car parking is not free.
Temple Newsam - Named after the Knights Templar who owned the estate it became a Tudor Royal Palace, home of the Lennox's, executed in the Tower for rebelling against Henry VIII, their son Lord Darnley was the original Halton Moor ASBO :lol: married Mary Queen of Scots and fathered (although heaven knows how) James I. Also home the the unofficial "Queen of the Regency", Lady Hertford (she was the Camilla of her day). Home Farm is a Rare Breeds farm, it holds the National Collection of Delphiniums and the whole estate is the second largest public park in Europe. Free with Leedscard.
Thwaite Mills Watermill, Stourton - down behind the Skoda garage on the old road to Wakefield. A wildlife haven often used as the river scenes in 'Frost'.

Other attractions

Harewood House - unfortunately better looking than Temple Newsam but built from dodgy money. Home to a minor Royal. (I am not biased of course :ohno: )
Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture - curate the City Art Gallery's sculpture.
Horsforth Museum - small but interesting local history museum. Limited opening.
Royal Armouries - Big national, lots of guns, I prefer the Japanese armour.
Thackray Medical Museum - private museum in Jimmy's. Nicely done.
University Gallery - a real compliment to the City Art Gallery. Small but well balanced collection of C20th British Art.

The Tetleys Brewery Wharf closed some years ago and is now the funky offices of Buro Happold civil engineers.

City Council's press release ahead of this Friday's reopening of the City Art Gallery:


[I]EXCITING EVENTS IN PLACE FOR ART GALLERY RE-OPENING
Artists, musicians, puppeteers and a ‘wanderer’ will be amongst the performers at the launch weekend for the newly re-opened Leeds Art Gallery. From 22 -24th June there will be an explosion of activities...

It's 24th today, so I took my boy and we travelled down to Leeds to visit the Gallery and enjoy "an explosion of activities" only to find out it was closed :bash:

I want The Tetleys Brewery Wharf back!

Hi JOliver

The Gallery should have opened at 12 noon. There was the big 10k Jane Tomlinson race just outside which may have held things up a bit? What time did you call? I will find out tomorrow if there was a problem. If it was closed after noon PM me and I will send you a new guide book and some other goodies to say sorry.

i have to go see the newly done up gallery, but looking at that list it is embarassing how few major museums and attractions leeds has for its size/importance/ambitions, esp in the city centre. it is far more attractive with a much better atmosphere than say liverpool but liverpool has far more attractions to bring in visitors - and i imagine it has far higher tourist figures than leeds

I think you're being a bit unfair Silverriver;

Looking solely at museums:

I'm sure Liverpool has many more tourists than Leeds, although I'm not sure they have a lot more museums. I only know of the maritime museum next to Albert Dock (which is brilliant, I'd recomend to anybody) and there is some Beetles museum that I've not been to, and the historic ships across in the Wirral which is good too. Are there many more than that?

I think Leeds museum offer needs to be seen as part of visitors to the local area in mind, so with the Royal Armouries, National Rail in York and Media museum in Bradford; that's three major national museums. Add to that in Leeds: The new City Museum (2008), Armley Industrial, Thackray Medical and Abbey House which are all good proper museums, further afield is Thwaites Mill, Bradford Industrial and York Castle Museums, that's pretty good list for a visitor to the region.

Looking at other attractions:

I think Leeds does well with two large and two small theatres, and Alhambra in the vicinity, (also a major centre for dance, opera and ballet) a good city art gallery, and an excellant collection of stately homes nearby with Harewood, Temple Newsam, Bowling Hall, Shibden Hall, Oakwell Hall, Bronte Parsonage all good attractions open to the public.

And I've only brushed the surface, I could add to the list ...

..and the Coal mine museum...or has it flooded with it being underground.

Liverpool has got a lot of good museums and art galleries housed in really spendid buildings including; Walker Art gallery, Tate Gallery and Lady Leaver art gallery. (Not in Liverpool itself but near enought) and these are top class collections.

Liverpool has got a lot of good museums and art galleries housed in really spendid buildings including; Walker Art gallery, Tate Gallery and Lady Leaver art gallery. (Not in Liverpool itself but near enought) and these are top class collections.

good but small galleries. Most cities have art galleries equal to these... Leeds gallery itself has a very impressive collection. Outside London you just get bite size. To be honest I don't think cities outside London should compete against each other as far as Museums and Art galleries go we compete collectively with London to get a finger in the British pie.

Well surely it would be a good thing if there were more high culture attractions in Leeds and didn't Di Livio once say that Damien Hirst was to open an art gallery in his native Leeds but decided to base it in the middle of rural Glostershire instead?

Presumably any decent tourist type attraction should be encouraged to open in Leeds but of course there must be a need and demand if it is not to repeat the many failed museums in the 1990s such as Tetleys Brewery Wharf, Transperience in Bradford, The Earth Centre in Doncaster and National Centre for Popular Music in Sheffield. I guess there should be another more substantial art gallery, new museums which have some resonance with Leeds's or Yorkshire's history and perhaps they could do something similar to Salts Mill with the Temple Mill in Holbeck (which I believe they were going to do there but was axed (does anyone know who will be replacing it?) or Hunslet Mills perhaps?

Hi JOliver

The Gallery should have opened at 12 noon. There was the big 10k Jane Tomlinson race just outside which may have held things up a bit? What time did you call? I will find out tomorrow if there was a problem. If it was closed after noon PM me and I will send you a new guide book and some other goodies to say sorry.

We were just as the run finished, @ about 11:30 as I assumed (wrongly, apparently) that all museums open at 11 on Sundays, but later checked on their Web site it says 1pm-5pm, so was my fault after all. Just did not expect a gallery to be opened only for 4 hours on Sundays. Ta for your offer :)

I found out yesterday, Art Gallery staff in at 12 and open from 1pm.

Liverpools Museums are all Nationals and therefore get significantly more funding than any museum in Leeds except the Armouries.

Well surely it would be a good thing if there were more high culture attractions in Leeds and didn't Di Livio once say that Damien Hirst was to open an art gallery in his native Leeds but decided to base it in the middle of rural Glostershire instead?


I did indeed. Still bashing my head in over that one. :bash:

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/arts/2005/09/01/Toddington3.jpg

I hope the new Leeds art gallery includes a space like Birmingham's Gas Hall - a large exhibition space slightly removed from the permanent collection which gets some decent touring exhbitions.

The refurbished Art Gallery does have a new exhibition space, two in fact. The old Art Library on the right as you came into the Gallery has been gutted and is now a large white box space currently featuring the exhibition 'Fairy Tale' (not for children!) and the old Cafe is a learning and education interactive space currently hosting a tropical jungly thing, don't ask me what exactly. Add the existing Lyons Gallery featuring Roger Palmer's 'Botany Bay' exhibition which I quite like and the Gallery is off to a flying start. In the last few years almost all of the Turner Prize winners have exhibited in Leeds before they were famous. It also hosted the very, very popular Saatchi exhibition last year as well as Frank Brangwyn and the Leonardo works from the Royal collection. Open show is coming in August if you fancy yourself as a budding Hurst (or Grimshaw).

The Gas Hall in Brum is a lovely space but was very costly. I saw a great Star Trek exhibition there once and still have the badge :ohno:

Mid Term plans are to bid for money to extend and rebuild the Art Gallery to give it an extra floor and sort out the myriad leaky roofs before all funding disappears into the black hole called London 2012. Leeds was perhaps slow to bid for Lottery money but all its bids have been thought through and successfully implemented. Off the top of my head - Roundhay Park, Kirkstall Abbey, Abbey House, Temple Newsam and the new City Museum in Heritage and the Grand Theatre, Carriageworks and Town Hall in Arts. Bound to be more I can't remember all match funded by the Council and those projects listed above realised some £45m investment into the City.

I nipped in yesterday to hake a look at the newly opened Tiled Hall. It is a stunner and I cannot believe it was completely obliterated for so many years. When I read that it was going to be the site for the new cafe and shop, I was rather disappointed but I have to say it seems to work really well. There were plenty of people browsing in the shop or sitting in the cafe, as well as a fair sprinkling of people rubbernecking like me. And, of course, it has opened up the gallery entrance very nicely!

The new stonework is being added to the entrance area of the museum, along with the new ramp to the left of the pic:



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/13%20July%202007/P1010239.jpg?t=1184365112



This one shows where the windows have been cut down to allow street level access

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/13%20July%202007/P1010240.jpg?t=1184366026

I nipped in yesterday to hake a look at the newly opened Tiled Hall. It is a stunner and I cannot believe it was completely obliterated for so many years. When I read that it was going to be the site for the new cafe and shop, I was rather disappointed but I have to say it seems to work really well. There were plenty of people browsing in the shop or sitting in the cafe, as well as a fair sprinkling of people rubbernecking like me. And, of course, it has opened up the gallery entrance very nicely!

I'm back to Leeds for a few days on Thursday and this is top of my list of things to see.

Really looking forward to a day of wandering around checking out what's happening in the city, my usual lunchtime stop at Fuji Hiro (yum!) and continuing my quest to find a decent non chain coffee shop in the city centre. Anyone know of one?

I'm back to Leeds for a few days on Thursday and this is top of my list of things to see.

Really looking forward to a day of wandering around checking out what's happening in the city, my usual lunchtime stop at Fuji Hiro (yum!) and continuing my quest to find a decent non chain coffee shop in the city centre. Anyone know of one?

Try Anthony's in the Victoria Quarter

Isn't Anthony's a chain that has restaurants in Flannels and on Boar Lane?

Isn't Anthony's a chain that has restaurants in Flannels and on Boar Lane?

No, it isn't.

Check the website http://www.anthonysrestaurant.co.uk

So what counts as a chain then; I would have thought a company with more than one restaurant/outlet; regardless of the purpose of each one (VQ as a Patisserie/Boar Lane and Flannels as Restaurants).

So what counts as a chain then; I would have thought a company with more than one restaurant/outlet; regardless of the purpose of each one (VQ as a Patisserie/Boar Lane and Flannels as Restaurants).

I would have thought that was obvious.

Where you have an identikit series of shope, restaurants, or whatever, with the same stock on sale or with the same menu, you have a chain. Starbucks and Costa come to mind in reference to the question Smoggie asked earlier.

The three places that Anthony Flinn has do not constitute a chain given that each of them has a different purpose and menu. The one thing they have in common is the owner.

I would have thought that was obvious.

Where you have an identikit series of shope, restaurants, or whatever, with the same stock on sale or with the same menu, you have a chain. Starbucks and Costa come to mind in reference to the question Smoggie asked earlier.

The three places that Anthony Flinn has do not constitute a chain given that each of them has a different purpose and menu. The one thing they have in common is the owner.

Cheers Aviator, I'll give Anthony's a go, if the coffee and patisserie is even half as good as the restaurant I'll probably end up staying all day :D

LN!, don't be so pedantic fella, you know what I meant by coffee chains i.e. the big boys like Starbucks/Costa/Cafe. I try and avoid them if at all possible, I'm a bit of a coffee snob!

There's a cool little chain of coffee shops in London called Coffee@ that I seem to be frequenting at the mo even though the coffees not that good. Mike Skinner was in the one on my street last time I was there!

well Im not really bothered! Just making a point really; I quite like chains generally.

If you want a coffee and are going to the tiled hall at the art gallery, just have one there! you'll need time to take it in, I went today and it's a peach. Try sitting on the bench near its enterance and look at people's faces as they glance in and then realise what they are looking at. This place 'is a must' for anyone who's remotely interested in buildings in Leeds.

Thats true; should be a good place to check out. It's operated by the people who operated (before it burnt down..) the Lakeside Cafe in Roundhay Park I believe.

I haven't been to the art gallery since it has reopened. Will have a look next time. I get a free cake in there on my breezecard :)

Liverpool has got a lot of good museums and art galleries housed in really spendid buildings including; Walker Art gallery, Tate Gallery and Lady Leaver art gallery. (Not in Liverpool itself but near enought) and these are top class collections.

We've got the International slavery museum opening soon aswell,it used to be based in the basement of the maritime museum and was always one of my favourites and now it's going to be based in the former Granada studios in the Albert Dock.There's the World museum and Museum of Liverpool is currently under construction also and there's a small museum where the former Battle of the Atlantic headquarters was.

I haven't been to the art gallery since it has reopened. Will have a look next time. I get a free cake in there on my breezecard :)

You must get along, it's great now. The gallery has been really improved, and the shop and cafe in the new tiled hall are out of this world.

We've got the International slavery museum opening soon aswell,it used to be based in the basement of the maritime museum and was always one of my favourites and now it's going to be based in the former Granada studios in the Albert Dock.There's the World museum and Museum of Liverpool is currently under construction also and there's a small museum where the former Battle of the Atlantic headquarters was.

Presumably, they'll all be finished for next year. I'll pay a visit when they're all finished and open.

On a related note is that I have noticed on Yorkshire Television's Calendar this morning that the Planetarium at Harewood House has opened. Is this a permanent attraction there or is it just temporary as the structure looks a bit of a budget Eden Project crossed with the Crystal Dome from the Crystal Maze externally looking at the report which as ITV are useless does not appear to be on the ITV website? Here is the link from the Yorkshire Planetarium and Harewood House Websites: http://www.yorkshireplanetarium.co.uk/ and http://www.harewood.org/cgi/events/events.cgi?t=template.htm&a=279 Seems rather pricey though for what looks like a small attraction and on top of the standard entrance fee and would not really encourage me to go there personally. What does everyone else think is it a good new attraction IMO I would have thought it could have been better incorporating this at Clarence Dock to expand its use as a tourist destination as well as the Armouries perhaps?

If you want a coffee and are going to the tiled hall at the art gallery, just have one there! you'll need time to take it in, I went today and it's a peach. Try sitting on the bench near its enterance and look at people's faces as they glance in and then realise what they are looking at. This place 'is a must' for anyone who's remotely interested in buildings in Leeds.

Agreed. Very impressed with how this has turned out. It's a stunning room.

The rest of the gallery is also much improved. It's great how it links to the library on both levels.

Presumably, they'll all be finished for next year. I'll pay a visit when they're all finished and open.


Only the slavery one will be open,the other one's still a hole in the ground unfortunately.

the other one's still a hole in the ground unfortunately.

I think that's the site where they've dug out a long lost graving dock complete with gates etc, but I think it's only an archaelogical dig before it's lost forever. That is such a shame as it would make a great permanent centre piece to an indoor museum gallery with an old sailing ship in it and a reconstruction of an 18th century ship-building or repair facility.

Incidentally, Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre is very good and worth a visit if anyone is in the area.

Just got back from Leeds. Was really impressed with the tiled hall, it's absolutely stunning and serves Illy coffee which is always good, and indeed the City Art Gallery itself. Had a really good wander around for a couple of hours on Saturday, some great stuff in there.

I was disappointed with Anthony's in VQ though. Slow service, the coffee and cake arrived at different times and my coffee wasn't particularly hot when it arrived. Way below the standards of the main restaurant on Boar Lane.

I also went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park yesterday, been meaning to get there for years. It's absolutely wonderful and I'd highly recommend a trip for anyone who hasn't been there.

I can totally recomend this annual live event at Kirkstal Abbey

From YEP ..

"If ever an event lived up to its name, it's Classical Fantasia, with its astonishing fantasy-inspired music, fireworks and light show against the breathtaking backdrop of Kirkstall Abbey. Leeds City Council's incredibly-popular annual classical musical performance will take place this year on Sunday September 16 in the grounds of the 12th-century abbey.

Classical Fantasia is now in its 12th year, and organisers are again expecting a capacity crowd of 9,000 to enjoy the sights and sounds of the show in the shadow of the abbey's ruins. The date of the ticket launch is Saturday August 4 and places are always snapped up very quickly. The free tickets will be available to collect in person (maximum of two per person) on a first-come, first-served basis from 10am in Millennium Square.

The Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra provides the music for the event, which also features stunning fireworks displays and an imaginatively-lit abbey."

I was in Leeds yesterday and noticed that now beneath the gold writing of Leeds Institute they've put Leeds city museam in Gold writing as well, slightly larger but in keeping. I was also suprised at how many people appeared to be tourists in leeds yesterday, lots of people taking snaps, i suppose a lot are here for the gay pride today. Also i must say when sat in millenium square, everone who walked into the square started smiling, some saying wow beatiful' when they saw it, i have to say too, it looks great.

I was in town yesterday too, it fealt truly cosmopolitan, I've never seen so many tourists, Europeans .. big groups of Germans and others all over, hundreds altogether, I've never seen anything like it. Mind you, everywhere was really busy for a Sunday, families and all varieties were out milling around and sunbathing in all the squares that I saw (and Clarence Dock), it was great. Hot too, it fealt like when I went to Miami a couple of years ago.

I was at the Abby today and 100's of tourists where about.
what we badly need is a set of toor buses, maps with places of interest on them and a landmark wether it be a huge tower (like berlins) or CP (but taller than its planed to be).

Well what i had noticed about the tourists the other day was that nearly all of them had the same pocket-sized map with them that they kept refering to so there must be a place they get them from. Also wern't there plans to have that interactive mobile phone stations for updates on places of interest for tourists?

Actually some of the large groups where new uni students from abroad.

One of my favourite buildings in Leeds is emerging from the scaffolding looking very spruce.



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/12%20August%202007/P1010118.jpg?t=1186752539



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/12%20August%202007/P1010121.jpg?t=1186752572



The ground floor windows have been cut away here to create level access:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/12%20August%202007/P1010120.jpg?t=1186752602



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/12%20August%202007/P1010119.jpg?t=1186752640

The ground floor windows have been cut away here to create level access:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/12%20August%202007/P1010120.jpg?t=1186752602

This is going to be a cafe, with an outdoor seating area.

Great photos, looking forward to this opening. We just need cube/cacoon sorting and the square will be complete and a big step forward for Leeds

Agreed the completion of the City Museum will be a major boon for Millennium Square and should encourage much more people to this end. Have any special exhibitions been announced yet and how large an exhibition space will there be. Also regarding the former Qube / Cacoon bar just why has it remained empty so long at such a potentially prime spot as in the summer the bars at the other end of Revolution and Ha Ha seem to have a lot of people sitting outside it just seems to be a potential opportunity and odd that it hasn't been taken on by someone else yet especially when I remember when it first opened it always seemed busy on weekends.

Another thing is that Bourbon next door to Qube / Cacoon really does need taking over as whenever I walk past it always seems dead and surprising that it stays in business. Does anyone know if there is any plan to massively refurbish that unit which has seen better days.

Is there any part of the area around the Civic Hall for a street cafe? That would bring life to 3 sides of the square then, instead of having it all at the bottom and potentially the top right.

This is going to be a cafe, with an outdoor seating area.

That's nice to know; it'll help spread the buzz further round the Millennium Square.

FULL CIRCLE FOR CIRCE AS STATUE COMES IN FROM THE COLD

She has been out in the cold for years but the beautiful bronze statue of the goddess Circe has left her Park Square perch for a warm welcome back home to the city’s art gallery.

The much-loved but badly-weathered and damaged sculpture had relocated to Leeds Art Gallery- for which she was originally commissioned.

In a few weeks the painstaking process of restoring her will start- in full public view within the art gallery itself so visitors can witness the work of the conservators. She will then take up permanent residence in either the gallery or the new city museum opening later this year.

Moving Circe from her Park Square plinth was a delicate operation which involved hoisting her carefully by crane before transporting her across the city centre.

It is a belated return home for the Alfred Drury masterpiece, which was commissioned specially for the Leeds art gallery in 1894. Based on the Circe of Homer’s Odyssey, the beguiling goddess lured Odysseus’ men and turned them into swine with a cup of poison.

She was unceremoniously shifted to an ugly modern brick plinth in Park Square in the 1950s when Victorian sculpture fell out of fashion. Since then she has suffered discolouration and damage from the elements - as well as falling victim to theft and vandalism which have led to the loss of her wand, cup, drapery and wreath.

The Henry Moore Foundation is funding Circe’s restoration, which will be co-ordinated by the Henry Moore Institute, who, in collaboration with Leeds Art Gallery, maintain and develop the city’s sculpture collection.

Circe’s move means that not only will she be restored to a more suitable, prominent indoor setting in line with original intent, she will also be far better protected from vandals and the weather.

Meanwhile, her place in Park Square is being taken by the eye-catching but less valuable figure of Mercury, not an original but one of several late 19th century bronze casts of the original Renaissance statue by Giambologna.

Mercury proved popular when on display in the courtyard at Temple Newsam House in the 1960s and 70s, but has been in storage and not been seen since then.
Circe’s creator Alfred Drury, who was based in London, also crafted high-profile sculptures at prominent places such as Buckingham Palace and the Old Bailey.
However, it is acknowledged by the National Archive that Drury made his name with the creation of Circe, for which he was awarded the Paris Universal Exhibition gold medal in 1900.

(from city council's website)

Isn't this supposed to open this year, if so what month because it will make a significant difference to the Leeds culture scene.

The City Museum should be opening Easter I believe.

There are signs on the windows saying it will open in August

Interesting article from 2003: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2803551.stm
It seems we have achieved or are on the way to achieving all of the schemes mentioned.

From today's YEP:


Building saved from 'naff ' ads

By David Marsh

PLANS to fix advertising banners to an historic building in the heart of Leeds have been firmly rejected by councillors.

The Leeds Institute building – designed by renowned Victorian architect Cuthbert Brodrick and overlooking Millennium Square – is currently undergoing a £20m refurbishment and conversion into a new City Museum due to open in the autumn.

The council's Learning and Leisure Department wanted planning permission to erect two 4.5m high by 1.2m wide plastic banners on pillars either side of the main entrance to the grade II-listed building.

A report to the council's city centre plans panel, recommending that consent be given in principle, said the banners would be used to advertise the museum's opening and its exhibitions.

It said other locations for the banners had been considered and it was considered the pillars were the most appropriate.

But English Heritage, likening the proposal to "building site banners", objected to the plan.

It said: "The building is a significant example of one of Leeds' grand 19th century public buildings and the pilasters flanking the main entrance are principle architectural features.

"The proposed signs would severely compromise the architectural expression of this elevation and detract from its quality."

Coun James Monaghan (Lib Dem, Headingley) said: "I cannot believe that after so much money being spent restoring this building to its glory we are considering putting these banners over it.

"There must be other ways to advertise events and exhibitions that will take place in the museum."

Coun Martin Hamilton (Lib Dem, Headingley) said: "We are talking about a listed building designed by one of the most famous architects to work in Leeds and it is proposed to put plastic banners over it.

"I have grave concerns and would like to see other options looked at."
Coun Elizabeth Minkin (Lab ,Kirkstall) said: "It's naff. It really is poor."

She added: "We should also speak to the Town Hall management about the banners that are put on that building. There must be a better way of advertising what's going on inside."

The panel agreed to defer a decision on the application to allow negotiations to take place on possible alternative sites for the banners.

Street-banner posts could be installed outside the Museum, so that banners can be hung outside to advertise the event.

So long as they are quality banners, I do not see the problem. Most major National museums in London have banners outside, they just look good.

To be honest, I agree. The size proposed isn't huge either.

So long as they are quality banners, I do not see the problem. Most major National museums in London have banners outside, they just look good.

In New York also.

I don't think it's the banners that are the problem, more the fact they would be attached to such an important building - if they can find some other way of doing it (attaching banners to lamp-posts?) then I think they would be allowed...
It does look naff all those banners on the town hall...

Like this:

http://www.iticse04.leeds.ac.uk/participation/social/owl_full.jpg

That's how I meant yes.

I don't think it's the banners that are the problem, more the fact they would be attached to such an important building

Oh come on. It may be important for Leeds but if internationally important buildings like the Natural History Museum etc can have them I don't see why we shouldn't. Lets also remember what this bulding originally was - a Mechanics' Institute. A very fine one at that, but we it's not like we'd be descrating an historic cathedral or such like.

Having said all that, I do think the ones on the Town Hall are a bit naff.

Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue , New York in June 1996


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d122/mpfreed/scan0001.jpg

Those banners are horrible

Two banners either side of the main entrance on posts would be good. The banners no doubt will look like the ones on the Art gallery which look fine.

Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue , New York in June 1996


http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d122/mpfreed/scan0001.jpg


A good justification for the Plans Panel to have made the decision they arrived at.

There's a new website for the city's museums and galleries, along with a separate section for each one. The Leeds City Museum pages have some nice images of the inside of the building which are worth checking out. Just follow this link (http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/)

Very nice site that is, impressed with the full screen VR.

Yes it's a good site, but there should be links to the other museums of Leeds. Evidently it misses some major museums; namely the Thackray Medical and Royal Amouries. Perhaps others I am forgetting?

Well it only seems to list the museums owned by Leeds City Council and not by any other entity. You would have thought they would have listed other museums such as the Royal Armouries and Thackray Medical Museum and of course there is Harewood House which is woth mentioning. Also couldn't they mention museums and galleries in locations close to Leeds but outside of the district such as all of those attractions in York, Saltaire, Haworth etc perhaps to show a broader range of attractions to a tourist visiting the Leeds area.

when does the museum officially open?

when does the museum officially open?


13 September

The new Leeds City Museum opens in one week. For those not fortunate enough to have had a peek at the new galleries there are some photos here:

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/cityMuseum/City_Museum/Images.aspx

^^Looks good and I note that the council have finally fulfilled their promise of delivering an arena to the city.

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/cityMuseum/City_Museum/Leeds_Arena.aspx

The new Leeds City Museum opens in one week. For those not fortunate enough to have had a peek at the new galleries there are some photos here:

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/cityMuseum/City_Museum/Images.aspx

Fantastic, a great addition to the city. I can't wait to visit the next time I am back up. :-)

Would be nice to see the Leeds City Art Gallery given a spruce up next, there is some wonderful art in there but some of the galleries look rather tired, particularly those wallpapered with woodchip! :ohno:

Couldn't be better. A spruced up trophy building and the return of the Bengal tiger.

Fantastic, a great addition to the city. I can't wait to visit the next time I am back up. :-)

Would be nice to see the Leeds City Art Gallery given a spruce up next, there is some wonderful art in there but some of the galleries look rather tired, particularly those wallpapered with woodchip! :ohno:
Yep great to have a city museum again! It's been a tragedy for the not to have one for so long. I will visit it as soon as the first rush of crowds die down.


The Art gallery is beyond help! It is too small. They don't even have enough storage space to add much to the collection let alone exhibit the work. It's be great to have a real full sized art gallery like The Walker Gallery in Liverpool! I love that building! We should have one too. Agh! we are never satisfied! I guess we are lucky to get the museum. I hope it lives up to our expectations and isn't a wacky warehouse full of bright colours and buttons to push and flashing lights just for little kids to run around in!

We need a additional Art Gallery a nice new modern building a focal point with cutting edge design. By the way when is the next announcement on the arena due.

Countess of Wessex opened the new Leeds City Museum today: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Countess-opens-new-20m-Leeds.4488099.jp

Countess opens new £20m Leeds City Museum

12 September 2008
By Suzanne McTaggart
THE new £20m Leeds City Museum received the royal seal of approval by HRH The Countess of Wessex ahead of tomorrow's grand opening.
Sophie, the wife of Prince Edward, joined the Lord Mayor of Leeds to tour the new museum, which includes five major galleries devoted to the history of Leeds, a large arena and four floors of exhibition space.

During her visit, the mum-of-two unveiled a plaque in the museum's Toddler Town, which is designed for children under the age of five and includes a mini version of Leeds, with a climbing and play area and interactive displays.

The Countess, who was accompanied by the leader of Leeds City Council, Coun Richard Brett and executive member for leisure, Coun John Procter, was also the first person to sign the museum's visitor book.

The new venue, in the former Civic Institute building on Millennium Square, finally opens to the public today - more than 60 years after the original Leeds Museum on Park Row was bombed during the Second World War.

The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Coun Frank Robinson said: "Everyone is hugely excited by the opening of the new Leeds City Museum, so it is fantastic to have a member of the Royal family come along and see it."

The Royal party also visited Leeds Town Hall, where the Countess was given a tour of the Cuthbert Brodrick-designed building, which was officially opened 150 years ago this week by Queen Victoria.

The Countess, who also unveiled a plaque commemorating her visit to Leeds, was shown around the Victoria Hall, the courtroom and Victorian cells, which were used to hold criminals from the 1860s.

Coun Robinson added: "Leeds Town Hall is the most iconic building in the city, and the day Queen Victoria came to open it is regarded as one of the greatest days in the history of Leeds.

"So it is a perfect symmetry that another member of the Royal family helps us to celebrate its anniversary 150 years later."

Earlier in the day, the Countess made a private visit to Caring for Life, a charity based in Cookridge, Leeds, where she is a royal patron.

• For more information on the new museum, including opening times, visit www.leeds.gov.uk/citymuseum.


Good news this is opening at last. Will it be just the same permanent exhibition here or will there be room for temporary exhibitions to encourage repeat visits to this new city centre attraction?

We need a additional Art Gallery a nice new modern building a focal point with cutting edge design. By the way when is the next announcement on the arena due.

What about a new city art gallery on part of the Whitehall Riverside site? Considering I can't see that being completed any time this century :ohno: surely putting a great big art gallery down here would improve possible regeneration prospects at this end of town and it would also have advantages such as a high visbible location near the station allowing for an architecurally distinctive building.

Temple Mill would make a good new art gallery. It's a large building that is in need of renovation; architectural standards would have to be high for any new extensions too.

There are temporary exhibitions; opening with 'Creepy Crawlies' from the Natural History Museum. That will eventually go to welcome a new exhibition.

Good news this is opening at last. Will it be just the same permanent exhibition here or will there be room for temporary exhibitions to encourage repeat visits to this new city centre attraction?

The Museum has a temporary exhibition space (starting with Creepy Crawlies) which will change on a regular basis. The World View gallery is also expected to change to showcase different world cultures represented by Leeds Museums' substantial ethnographic collection. The museum opens with its African collection on display.

There are a number of community groups involved in projects with the museum, these will also change over time.

I went past the museum today; would have gone in but a massive queue. Seemed to be alot of people at the opening event on Millennium Square too.

I went in today - around 1ish - had to queue to get in (though it was much longer when I came out.) I didn't look round for too long because it was a nice day and it was v. busy - which of course is a good thing.

I was very impressed - I thought the fit-out of the building was good, the displays were great, with lots of variety and plenty to look at, which is genuinely interesting.

The big Leeds map on the floor in the central area which used to be the auditorium when it was a theatre - was simple but really effective. A great idea, accessible to all.

Everyone seemed to be really enjoying it which is prob most important. It'd be great to hear what others think/thought of it. I personally can't wait for some gloomy winter days when you can just go in and have a good look around.

I went past at around 1300; then again later (to see if the queue had gone). Alot of people seemed to visit; I saw people with bright orange bags across the city all day. Again, the weather added to the reasons not to go in today. As soon as the rush has died down, I'll go.

What's up with you guy's don't let a bit of a queue put you off.

Well is it as good as the previous museum ( which would be good enough for me because it was such a fantastic gem packed museum! )! But I do hope for the expense involved that it has improved amd is even better! I really can't wait to go - but when the first rush of visitors is over! Then you see it at it's best. :)

It's a great addition to our city. I visited it yesterday. It seem mighty popular with the French and Spanish tourists which surprised me. The museum itself was very informative and ideal for the kids with the play sections. ("Leeds No1 haha!") For the adults, there's fact sheets to find out more about the subject your looking at, if the dialogue on the main display isn't enough for you.

What's up with you guy's don't let a bit of a queue put you off.

I don't do queueing :ohno:

;)

On the subject of museums, I popped in to the Royal Armouries at the weekend to look at the special exhibition of arms from the movies, in particular Lord of the Rings but also The Last Sumurai, Narnia, King Kong etc. It was a small but extremely well presented exhibition with loads of famous items packed into very impressive custom full height display cases, with the displays and lighting very good. I didn't have long so must get back to have a better look at the exhibition, and recommend it to anyone who likes these kind of films.

http://www.royalarmouries.org/assets-uploaded/images/535x150/Exhibition_page_banner.jpg

Had an enjoyable couple of hours there this morning, alot more to see and do than I thought. The Leeds Story on the second floor is especially good, starting at rock formations and going up to the present day. Learnt something as well, always thought Thortons Arcade had something to with the confectionary shop. But apparently it was built about 1875 by Charles Thornton owner of the City Varieties. Would like to see the outside of the building cleaned to match the steps though.

I went in there yesterday. I thought it was good; all the exhibitions were good. The one on the lower ground (Life on Earth?) and Leeds Story were very good. I went into the Eating Creepy Crawlies bit (where you have to pay) and wasn't overly impressed with that. Quite small and not really worth it. There's 4 boxes with living animals (giant moth, massive stick insects, hissing cockroach, leaf cutter ants)- but you can see those at Tropical World. There are then preserved insects which are interesting but not worth paying for.

In the sunshine last week:


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/5%20October%202008/5October2008004.jpg



http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/apm22/5%20October%202008/5October2008005.jpg


I must say that I think the creation of Millennium Square has been a quiet triumph for the city, and the final piece in the jigsaw has been fitted with the opening of the museum . Even though there were no events being held in the square, there was a constant buzz of activity: groups of students outside LMU's Film School, people sitting at tables outside the museum, Revolution, and the other bars around the square, along with plenty of workers having their lunch. It all felt very pleasant and civilised.

In the sunshine last week:


I must say that I think the creation of Millennium Square has been a quiet triumph for the city, and the final piece in the jigsaw has been fitted with the opening of the museum . Even though there were no events being held in the square, there was a constant buzz of activity: groups of students outside LMU's Film School, people sitting at tables outside the museum, Revolution, and the other bars around the square, along with plenty of workers having their lunch. It all felt very pleasant and civilised.

I agree it's been a triumph, which is great considering our nation's capital got a billion pound white elephant... :lol:

no one's got any snappages from inside? Curious to see what they done to it ahving spent years treading the boards in am dram in the 1990s. Have till wait till Jimbo returns north to the parentals for Festivus.

Visited this in the week - small place but it's nicely done. Can't believe how big their yak is.

no one's got any snappages from inside? Curious to see what they done to it ahving spent years treading the boards in am dram in the 1990s. Have till wait till Jimbo returns north to the parentals for Festivus.

Some Leeds City Council ones on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30193899@N04/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/2827479807_8bfc1eb2ee_b.jpg

oh dear!

I visited it and it was just as I fearerd. One big Wacky Warehouse full of loud screetching toddlers and their worshiping parents.

AWFUL!


It was like going to an art gallery and noticing the picture frames and mounting boards more then the paintings on exhibhition. Beautifully displayed artifacts but lost in their surroundings.


They seriously need to add sound absorbant materials to deaden the noise of the kids.


Oh heck I find myself doing a Fred here - I loved the old museum so much, the exhibhits just stood out and drew you into their period of history, it was like a time machine. Now it is just a chaotic mush of history mixed with the chaos and noise of modern living. Did me 'ead in.

so.....well what can I say but....

bah humbug!!! >(


We have a superb collection so I will go back better prepared! :)

..... armed with some crucifixes and hang some garlic round my neck and a pair of ear defenders!



End of the day this museum will get those feet through the doors and what else really matters! And some really interesing exhibits - the Leeds Story is superb! ( with the bonus of being relatively child free too! )

You didn't go at a weekend did you!? I went on a weekday morning and it had a really nice atmosphere (no screaming kids!). I really enjoyed the museum, and could probably spend a good few hours there.

jimbo, I tryed to take photos but was asked to fill out a load of forms so I just gave up. As daveylad2 says, there are plenty of pictures on flickr :)

Whats wrong with kids? If you don't want to see any kids stick to Clarence Dock.

^^ It's just a social nuisance when a wild child runs into your leg and then cries to their parent and points at you, that's all. Why some parents think public buildings are places to let their kids go mad is quite bizarre. I've got no problem with them crying, that's what they do! But it's parents letting them run riot that I can't stand.

Whats wrong with kids? If you don't want to see any kids stick to Clarence Dock.

Nothing wrong with well behaved children who are being taught how to behave appropriately within a public space.


I had the decency to make sure my children were quiet and well behaved in public and okay it means hard work, but that's what parenting is all about. I appreciated that although I loved having my my kids around but that other people don't want my kids in their faces.

Parents wanting to educate educate educate irritate me. It's better to wait until the babies/toddlers are seeking answers to questions before forcing information into their tiny little heads. It is a greater gift to give a small child an enquiring mind. imo.

To appreciate history I like to take children back in time rather then make things all bright loud and gimicky.

The old museun was very quiet. And the staff had the time to talk to the children and get to judge their level of interest and then to talk to them at a level of interest appropriate to their age. They would even open up the cases to show them certain exhibhits and let them hold them.

I liked to tell my kids museums are like libraries, they are special places and need to be well behaved or they must leave. Then if that mess around or make a noise they had to be quiet or I took them out. This way they learn to want to go into the museums because you have made them special. Also when you go in you make the length of the visit suitable for their age so with a young child you go in for a very short time find one or two aspect that interst the child and then you leave with them wanting more. Then they want to go to museums even without the bright lights and buttons to press.

When parents take tots into a museum and tell them this and tell them look at that and tell them all about so much and then more still and the child throws themselves on the floor and screams then they have had enough! Stop educating them! They only need very short visits. Too mant kids were crying because they wanted to leave! It's good to be child friendly but no matter how child friendly a museum is made the little tots still have short concentration spans and I really don't want to have to put up with their screams. 20 mins would be quite enough for most of the tots that were in the museum when we visited. Then they wouldn't fling themselves to the floor and scream or start playing up by running around making silly noises.


I have to admit at one point I even felt like putting out my foot and tripping up one of the little brats - which isn't like me. I've been a mum, teacher and childminder and have run tots grous, childrens clubs/youth groups. Now I run a dog club where I actively encourage kids to be involved - but at the same time for this priveledge of mixing in an adult world they must behave appropriately.



unfortunately I went on a Sunday afternoon and it was like a jungle gym then a museum. But there were lots and lots of little feet through the door.

Well behaved kids though are delightful. There were some nice families there too. No one has a problem with well behaved people! :)

Well I will go back when it's toddler free! I'd have liked to try out their cafe, but not when it is full of loud messy little brats. :shudder:

Actually we went to Bretton Hall over the summer and it was just as bad. Just being used as an adventure park for kids - the next age up from those at the museum. The museum is for 0-4 year olds. Bretton Hall 3 - 7. After 7 you don't see these people taking out their kids. The at 5/7+ just when you expect parents to take kids out to museums suddenly the kids vanish.

Well at leart the art galleries are still largely safe!

Whats wrong with kids? If you don't want to see any kids stick to Clarence Dock.

Err, I think the citizens of Leeds have a right to go to their long awaited museum without having their senses assaulted. You can't tell people to go elsewhere so that unruly screaming children can run wild in the museum.

Children's parents or minders have a responsibility to make their children behave appropriately for a museum, for the sake of the other visitors. It's basic courtesy and the social standard required for a civilised society as recognised the world over.

Molly can you stop refering to young children and toddlers as brats,its just as well your not a teacher or a childminder if thats your attiutude, or maybe you have just been working with dogs too long and have confused the two. The new Museum states quite clearly that its an hands on museum, so you have to expect alot of children and school parties. If that upsets you go later and out of school hours. Prehaps you can tell me what sort of appropiate behavior you expect from a 2 yr old, or get in touch with Rob and compare notes. I suggest you get in touch with Leeds Council and arrange for a special evening once a week when sensitive souls like you and Rob can go without any children present. We can call it old fogies night.

Well if you like screaming and general disorder, good for you, but I think you'll find the majority of the population don't, particularly young adults don't, so you can forget spouting your age-ist crap.

I think the point has been clearly made that appropriate behaviour from children is quite acceptable and appreciated by everyone, so I don't see why you're refering to childless visits, no-one has suggested that apart from you!

Sign me up to the old fogies club then. If kids are too young to control then they're probably too young to be in the museum in the first place. If they're old enough to appreciate the museum, they're probably old enough to expect a certain level of behaviour from them - not silence by any means but not running crazily around and screaming at the tops of their voices with no parental control. It's not just the "old fogies" who have their day spoiled but the better behaved kids too.

Rob, whats appropriate and not appropriate behaviour? Again don't go when there is likely to be lots of kids there. I for one would perfer a well used busy sucessful museum
than the one we had before, which as Molly says was more or less empty. As for the
childless visits It was just a sugestion for you and Molly, to make your vists more enjoyable.

Appropriate behaviour is acting in a resasonbly civilised manner as you would expect in any public place (no shouting, screaming, climbing on displays and only very limited running around). Not appropriate behaviour is carrying out too much of the above. Young children as a whole are capable of behaving appropriately if shown how to by example, as many of them were on my visit.

As for museum success, this is usually measured by numbers through the door, but I personally don't agree with this. Some museums can't take many people before they become too crowded to the point of not being able to appreciate the visit, which can happen at the Royal Armouries (some can take much larger numbers, like the National Rail Museum). However some critics just want to get higher and higher numbers through the door at any cost. That is not necesarily success in my opinion.

As for childless visits, that would be an equally sad loss to a museum visit as one of the best pleasures of going round a museum is seeing children there enjoying the museum for the right reasons, ie enjoying looking, learning about (and discussing) what they are looking at.

Molly can you stop refering to young children and toddlers as brats,its just as well your not a teacher or a childminder if thats your attiutude, or maybe you have just been working with dogs too long and have confused the two. The new Museum states quite clearly that its an hands on museum, so you have to expect alot of children and school parties. If that upsets you go later and out of school hours. Prehaps you can tell me what sort of appropiate behavior you expect from a 2 yr old, or get in touch with Rob and compare notes. I suggest you get in touch with Leeds Council and arrange for a special evening once a week when sensitive souls like you and Rob can go without any children present. We can call it old fogies night.

naughty uncontrolled kids are brats! I only refer to well mannered children as children. :) They must earn respect.

Err I did go out of school hours. School hours would be fine because I would expect school aged children with their teachers to behave well in a public area. Part of the reason we take children out into the public on visits is to show them how to behave out in the wider world.

I can still teach when I want to. I just choose not to at the moment because I put the bringing up of my own kids first and have other employment and studies to enjoy working on at the moment. I am actually a very very good teacher and was a very highly respected childminder - just as I am as a dog trainer. maybe because I do encourage good behaviour has something to do with my fine reputation in these fields.

I am very proud that when I have taken my own children out as well as school trips and youth groups that I have frequently been complimented on their behaviour by members of the public. And yes I can say the same for my dogs too. Teaching is what I am good at.



And so I always compliment staff and parents who have well behaved children - or who are doing their very best with difficult children.




Well I am amazed to come on here and see my personal professional status questioned just because I have high standards and high levels of expectations. I would consider these to be virtues. I wouldn't be a very good teacher is I accepted anything less.


Prehaps you can tell me what sort of appropiate behavior you expect from a 2 yr old
I expect them to scream and kick and throw themselves on the floor while their parents try to educate them telling them this and that and to look here and look there. That is appropriate behaviour from a 2 year old - but maybe it is not appropriate behaviour from the parents.

:dunno:


The museum has plenty of opportunities to make itself appropriate to young children - there is no excuse for overwhelming them so such a level that they can't contain themselves.

And if it is to be full of loud screeching kids it should really have sound absorbent materials to help reduce the impact of other users regardless of their ages. I've been to many museums over the years and never experienced this level of playground noise. It is quieter at a toddler group because at toddlers the kids are engaged in activities that are appropriate for their age and will be asked to leave if their parents don't control them.



The mornings or week days will I think will be much better times for visiting the museum.



lol I love children to bits or I wouldn't have devoted my entire life to working with and for them. lol. Frequently for free too! lol. I just prefer them not to be shoved in my face. I go to a museum to take an interst in history. If someone had warned me it was like wacky warehouse I would have known what to expect.

or maybe you have just been working with dogs too long and have confused the two.
there isn't much diffrence as far as behaviour goes. A dog is relatively equal to a 3 -5 year old child in some repects and the skills and attitude you need to work with either are very much the same. If you can train a dog you will most certainly have very well motivated and well behaved children. This is why a lot of the people working at the higher levels in the competitive dog world are also teachers, and good ones too. I am just as good at training difficult dogs as I am at working with difficult children. It is a good and simple way to help people within our community of all ages to get more out of their lives. It is good to do and I am highly complimented if you confuse the two fields of expertise.

Well this is far too lengthy - I just have my standards and they are high standards. End of converstion on this matter.


:)


:cheers:


:wave:


:)

that would be an equally sad loss to a museum visit as one of the best pleasures of going round a museum is seeing children there enjoying the museum for the right reasons, ie enjoying looking, learning about (and discussing) what they are looking at.
yer ..absolutely....well when that 'orrible Molly isn't sticking out her foot and tripping them up and making them cry! :D


;) ;) ;)

Museum races to 100,000 milestone

Published Date: 19 December 2008

The new Leeds City Museum has welcomed 100,000 visitors in its first three months.

The figure was reached when Kathryn Wood and her son Thomas, 20, of Lawnswood, Leeds, came through the doors to explore for themselves the four floors of exhibitions, galleries and interactive and audio-visual displays.

http://editorial.jpress.co.uk/web/Upload/YPOS//TH1_191220085100000th-BR1(2).jpg
Kathryn Wood and her son Thomas

Bosses at Leeds City Council had set a target for the first 12 months of 120,000 visitors, which is set to be reached within just four months. The £20m attraction off Millennium Square, in Leeds city centre, officially opened on September 13.

Coun John Procter, the council's executive member for leisure, said: "We are all delighted and very proud of just what a stunning success the new Leeds City Museum has proved."

Entry to the museum is free, but there is a small charge for special exhibitions. For further details visit www.leeds.gov.uk/citymuseumYorkshire Post

Thats briiliant, a real success story. How does that compare to R/A ?

That's great news and encouraging for future cultural/educational offerings in the city. Let's hope that the visitor numbers hold up once the intitial curiosity effect wears off.

Why would they not hold up, there are going to be different displays and attractions through out the year. Also with it been in the city centre you can pop in at anytime. Don't be so defeatist.

Why is ackowledging a risk being defeatist? I didn't say I expected the numbers to drop and certainly don't want them to drop.

lol exactly - and usually, when new things open they attract a huge amount of people... It is only once this initial anomaly period is over that you can really see how well the museum is doing - whether people decide to return every year or so.

Why is ackowledging a risk being defeatist? I didn't say I expected the numbers to drop and certainly don't want them to drop.

There is no risk its already a success, by next month it will have reached its 12 month visitor target.

How can there be no risk that the numbers will fall off from the initial high levels? You might reasonably hold the opinion that they won't but to say there's no risk is just ignoring that we live in an uncertain world. As wiggley said, we'll have to wait and see whether people come back for return vsits, which will in turn partly depend on the quality of future exhibitions.

I don't see why people wouldn't; it's better located than any other museum in the city and they all seem to survive despite the largely same exhibitions year after year. Don't forget that lots of schools will use the museum annually too.

Thats briiliant, a real success story. How does that compare to R/A ?

Aye it is good news. As well as the Armouries how do attendance figures for the Leeds Museum compare with museums elsewhere in Yorkshire such as the National Media Museum in Bradford, Eureka in Halifax and all of those museums which are in York? Are there any interesting exhibitions planned in the coming months to attract repeat visits?

Also is there any prospect of long term expansion considering the Leeds museum is a bit small imo and potentially I guess if the Leeds Museum does turn out to be highly successful then could expansion into the adjacent College of Art and Design (with the college moving to new premises of course) be at all possible)?

LCAD physically joins on to the back of the museum too. But I can't see the museum expanding into it at all really; I don't really think the the college of art and design is a suitable building for museum use anyway. The 'arena' could be used for more exhibits anyway; a pretty large open area with not much in it at the moment.

If it did get to the point where the museum needs more space then a second museum should be considered rather than expansion I think (probably seperating the Leeds bit from the Ancient worlds/Natural history and collectors bit). I don't really think it's worth thinking about that now though when that situation seems quite a way off.

Excellent news about the museum attendance figures. :)

I don't see why people wouldn't; it's better located than any other museum in the city and they all seem to survive despite the largely same exhibitions year after year. Don't forget that lots of schools will use the museum annually too.

Thanks for the support, there is too much doom and gloom comeing from B/H as well as usual B/S.

Took some friends from Edinburgh into the Museum last Weekend for a quick look round, I though it look great inside (if a little on the small side)

I found myself sat in the central area watching the video of Leeds.......... Now im not sure about anyone else, but i was sat there with a tear in my eye.
Just seeing all the images etc of Leeds, the places and people...... i felt so emotional, bought memories flooding back of so many things in my life……………….. It made me feel so proud of Leeds and where I come from.

The videos change; I've been in there three times now and seen a different set of videos.

Now im not sure about anyone else, but i was sat there with a tear in my eye.
Just seeing all the images etc of Leeds, the places and people...... i felt so emotional, bought memories flooding back of so many things in my life……………….. It made me feel so proud of Leeds and where I come from.

Yes, yes, it's all quite embarrassing. The Liz Dawn quote had me precariously balanced between laughter and tears.

My suggestion for the hall of fame was the (Whinmoor-raised) author Caryl Phillips.

It would be a good idea to have a section of the museum, or somewhere in the city, showcasing people with notable achievements from the city or who worked in the city. From celebrities through to people like Jane Tomlinson; there's people who no-one knows much about; Cuthbert Brodrick (although from Hull), John Smeaton, Michael Marks, John Marshall etc. I think it would increase awareness of the importance of the city's past and be a celebration of the people not just the buildings.

That's a very good idea. There are plenty of schools that visit the place and I think it's very important that kids get a sense of their shared identity and pride in their local community.

Somebody posted about the award on another thread but here's the detail (courtesy of the YEP):


Leeds City Museum wins first big award

Published Date: 29 May 2009

The £20m Leeds City Museum has claimed its first major award.
The Millennium Square museum beat 167 competitors to scoop the Reader's Award for Best Museum, at a ceremony in London.

Readers of Museums and Heritage magazine ranked the Leeds attraction top of the pile and the award will take pride of place at the museum's entrance.

Coun John Procter said: "It is absolutely fantastic that our amazing new museum has won this award which is recognised as being the best of the best. The fact that it has been voted for by the public just shows how amazingly popular the new Leeds City Museum has been."

Since opening in September the museum has attracted 250,000 visitors.

The award was handed out at this year's national Museums and Heritage Awards for Excellence held in London.

I think that the Museum can now be classed a success despite Bradleys misgivings. To be voted the No1 Museum nationwide and break through the 250,000 vistitor mark is a great achievement. It is to be remembered that the Council targeted 120,000 visitors as a requirement for the first 12 months. A figure that was reached in the first 4 months, with the Summer school holidays coming up, the visitor figures should be even more impressive by the time we reach the 12 month milestone in September.

My misgivings, as you put it, were only a simple statement that I hoped the numbers would hold up once the initial curiosity effect wore off. It's great news (and there hasn't been much of that for we Leeds forumers recently) that the museum has won this award and should certainly help to maintain the momentum and help to market the city's tourist and cultural offering in general. I've never been to the museum but would like to call in the next time I'm up north to see it for myself.

My misgivings, as you put it, were only a simple statement that I hoped the numbers would hold up once the initial curiosity effect wore off. It's great news (and there hasn't been much of that for we Leeds forumers recently) that the museum has won this award and should certainly help to maintain the momentum and help to market the city's tourist and cultural offering in general. I've never been to the museum but would like to call in the next time I'm up north to see it for myself.

You wouldn't want the initial levels to hold up. I took my kids soon after it opened and it was bedlam. Although thoroughly enjoyable, it would be good to go back when it's calmer. I'd agree that the surroundings in part feel a little cramped, but they've tried to get as much in as they can.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Leeds-City-Museum-celebrates-fourth.5942599.jp

Leeds City Museum celebrates fourth accolade
29 December 2009

Leeds City Museum is celebrating after gaining another award to add to its already impressive portfolio.

The attraction has seen 325,000 people flow through its doors since its opening in September 2008 and has gone from strength to strength.

It has now been awarded its fourth major accolade with a Making A Difference in Yorkshire and Humber award. Leeds City Museum won the award for Building Cultural Spaces which recognises a significant impact through cultural activities.

The award was given for the museum's community engagement programme funded through the Renaissance Yorkshire Museums Hub.

Working in partnership with the Yorkshire Film Archive, the museum worked with different local groups to create a series of themed film exhibitions that document contemporary life in Leeds and provide a voice for local people.

The films are complemented by displays of objects lent by people shown elsewhere in the museum.

The museum's other accolades include a national accreditation from the Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) for its high standards of service, the Reader's Award for Best Museum of the Year at this year's National Museums and Heritage Awards for Excellence and the RIBA Silver White Rose Conservation Award.

Leeds City Council executive member for Leisure, Coun John Procter, said: "The museum is a brilliant asset to the city and has really proved its popularity with awards and visitor figures in the first year of opening."