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Press Release

28 August 2024

Hampshire Cultural Trust reduces opening hours for Westbury Manor Museum

Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) has advised Fareham Borough Council that it is further reducing the opening hours for Westbury Manor Museum from four to three days per week. From Monday 2 September the ground floor only, including the café, will only open from 10am to 2pm, on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Following a strategic review, and in the face of a significant, proposed reduction to its funding by Hampshire County Council as part of its current major budget review, HCT, who manage Westbury Manor Museum for the Council, announced that five of the venues it operates in the county were at risk of closure as a result of funding challenges. The museum was identified as one of the affected sites and HCT confirmed that its agreement with the Council would end on 31 December 2024. The museum will now permanently close to the public from Monday 4 November.

Cllr Mrs Connie Hockley, Executive Member for Leisure and Community, said: ‘It was not Fareham Borough Council’s decision to close Westbury Manor Museum and I for one am very sad to see it go, particularly after having invested £448,000 to support Hampshire Cultural Trust in 2016. I would urge anyone that wants to see the museum before it closes to take note of the new opening hours.’

Katerina Kremmida, chief operating officer at Hampshire Cultural Trust, commented: “The ground floor of Westbury Manor Museum, including its café, will remain open on its most popular days, Monday, Thursday and Friday. We have had to make the decision to close the first floor of the museum at the same time, as we will be starting to document, clean and remove objects from the museum prior to its closure later in the year, and for the safety of our visitors, staff and volunteers, we need to do this while the first floor is empty.”

Although Westbury Manor Museum belongs to Fareham Borough Council, the objects that are on display inside it are part of the Hampshire County Council museum collections that are looked after by Hampshire Cultural Trust. After careful conservation, all of the objects currently at Westbury Manor Museum will be considered for display in other museums in the county.

The closure from early November will give Hampshire Cultural Trust time to properly manage the removal of the important collections currently housed within the building. Most will be returned to storage after being cleaned and documented on site. The iconic strawberry cart will be relocated to Milestones Museum in Basingstoke as part of Hampshire’s social history collection.

Hampshire Cultural Trust also manages Ashcroft Arts Centre which it also confirmed as at risk of closure. The final decision for this site will be announced towards the end of the year on 5 December 2024.

ENDS