Leeds City Council are proposing to close Abbey House Museum as part of cost saving cuts.

Abbey House Museum (and the Abbey ruins – see lower half of this post) is a telescope to the past – it allows us to glimpse at the way ‘loiners’ lived their lives in the not do distant past.

Visits help foster imagination, especially in our young. It’s educational – with interactive streets that teach you exactly what the world looked (and smelled!) like in Victorian times. There are displays of toys and a delightful shop.

And it’s a vital part of the Kirkstall and Leeds story.

Closing museums down to save money is an easy move, albeit a very short sighted one. It’s far harder to build a repertoire of history than to lose one. And – tragically – once gone, that’s likely for good.

https://surveys.leeds.gov.uk/s/uz1noe

Please let the council know your thoughts via the survey linked above.

Leeds City Council is proposing to permanently close Abbey House Museum to the public, at the annual saving of £160,000 beginning in 2025/26. We are consulting on this proposal because we are keen to understand the views of Leeds residents and visitors.

Abbey House Museum opened in 1927 as a museum and boasts three replica 19th century Victorian streets with authentically recreated shops, pub and houses. Exhibits range from the 19th century equivalent of a modern high street with a chemist, ironmongers, haberdashers, mourning warehouse and traditional Victorian drinking house. On the first floor there are childhood galleries exploring toys through the ages plus temporary exhibition galleries. Also contained within the museum is the original gatehouse of Kirkstall Abbey with vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows.

The museum is used by schools and communities, welcoming over 5,300 pupils from schools across the region and 1,938 people from community groups in the last financial year. The museum has seen a decline in visitors over the last three years, seeing visitor figures of just over 39,000 in 2023/24.

The Council is also looking to impose charges to visit the historic Kirkstall Abbey Ruins.

Again, you can feed back your thoughts via the link below.

https://surveys.leeds.gov.uk/s/0x1wp3

In 2022, Kirkstall Abbey changed their admission model to charge non-Leeds residents an entrance fee for 12 months access to the main Abbey ruins. Leeds City Council is proposing to implement an admission charge for everyone, including Leeds residents, to visit the main Abbey ruins. Park access would remain free. We are consulting on these proposals because we are keen to understand the views of Leeds residents and visitors. This decision will also be subject to legal guidance.

The abbey is considered one of the best-preserved Cistercian monasteries in the country, with over 850 years of history, it is essential we allow public access to this important monument and preserve it for future generations, to allow this to happen it must become more financially sustainable.