“I’ll be first in line”: Unique West Midlands carpet museum to reopen for four days
A video gives a glimpse of what you can find in Britain’s only carpet museum - located in the West Midlands - which will reopen for four days next month.
Britain’s only carpet museum - located in the West Midlands - which closed due to falling footfall has been saved.
The quirky attraction shut for good last month after visitors dwindled to just six per day. But the museum will roll out the red carpet once again after rug enthusiasts campaigned to save it.
The Museum of Carpet in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, will now welcome visitors for four days over half-term, starting on February 14. Bosses hope it could lead to the museum re-opening on a permanent basis in the future.
Geoffrey Gilbert, chair of the Carpet Museum Trust, admitted volunteers had been “floored” by the level of interest from people.
He said: "Volunteers expressed great enthusiasm and commitment to open the museum as much as possible in the coming months. Meanwhile discussions continue on support and funding for the development of a new museum for Kidderminster. It is hoped that a statement of how this will progress will be made in the next few weeks.”
Entry - which was £6 for adults and £17 for families - will be free for visitors over next month's half-term holiday. Locals living in Kidderminster, which was once regarded as Britain’s carpet capital, expressed their delight at the reopening.
Pensioner Graham Connell, 70, said: “It’s marvelous news to see such an important slice of the town’s history opening once more. Almost everyone living in this country has carpets in their homes and that is down mainly to this town and the people who lived and worked here. When the museum opens again, I’ll be first in line.”
The Museum of Carpet was set up in an 18th century mill in 2012 and featured hundreds of rug and underlay samples from the last 300 years. In the early years, the museum attracted coach loads of fabric fans and school groups who spent hours poring over the exhibits.
It also gained cult status online and received a four-star rating on TripAdvisor with some describing it as “an absolute gem”. The museum even posted a tongue-in-cheek video of Gary Barlow describing the attraction as a “very nice day out”.
But in recent years the attraction struggled to cover the £100,000-a-year running costs and it closed on December 20. Now fans hope the beloved museum can be saved.
