Industry News

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North has been named the North East’s most visited attraction and among the top in the country, in a new VisitEngland report.

The museum’s visitor numbers increased to 801,756 in 2023, making it top in the region and the 17th most visited paid-for attraction nationally, the annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions showed.

The news comes as the museum is celebrating the recent opening of its new 1950s cinema, shops, and STEM learning space, as well as the Georgian Drovers Tavern and pottery.

Rhiannon Hiles, Beamish’s Chief Executive, said: “We’re delighted to be named the most visited attraction in the North East, and the 17^th most visited paid-for attraction nationally.

“It was fantastic to welcome over 801,000 visitors to the museum last year, from across the region, the country and the world, to enjoy the world-class experience that Beamish offers.

“This is testament to the work of our brilliant team of staff and volunteers, and comes at an incredibly exciting time for Beamish, with the recent opening of our 1950s cinema and shops, and Georgian tavern and pottery, and we’ll also be opening our first self-catering cottages for visitors to stay overnight. We also recently won the national Visitor Welcome Award at the Museums + Heritage Awards.

“As a charity, we rely on our much-valued visitors and supporters to continue our work, which includes engaging with communities to share and preserve their heritage, running our health and wellbeing and learning programmes, including STEM, and our work around environmental sustainability. 

“The North East is an amazing place to visit, live and work in, with many wonderful attractions and, as an anchor cultural institution, we’re proud to be working with partners to continue to attract people to the region.”

The VisitEngland 2023 survey gathered information from 1,513 English visitor attractions, which showed that while visits to attractions continued to recover last year, they were still significantly down on pre-pandemic levels.

The Tower of London was the most visited paid-for attraction in England, with 2.8 million visitors, followed by Kew Gardens with 2 million visitors. The British Museum was the top free attraction, with 5.8 million visitors, followed by the Natural History Museum with 5.7 million visitors.

VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes said: “It’s good to see continued growth in visits to our wonderful attractions and this survey underlines what we know from the industry, that there remains ground to be covered to get our sector back to pre-pandemic levels and that the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite. 

“Our exceptional attractions remain vitally important to our tourism offer and it’s no surprise international and domestic tourists are returning to our first-class museums and galleries and our world-beating castles and historic houses. 

“With the summer holidays fast approaching I urge everyone to show your support, boost local economies through tourism and make magical memories in England’s high quality and varied attractions.”

Last weekend (6^th July), Beamish opened in its 1950s Town, a recreation of the Grand cinema from Ryhope, Sunderland; a toy shop named after Romer Parrish in Middlesbrough; A Reece Ltd Radio and Electrical Services electrical and record shop; STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) learning space and a milk bar.

The Drovers Tavern, which opened in The 1820s Landscape in June, serves Georgian-inspired food and drink, including an exclusively-brewed ale and gin. At the pottery, visitors find out more about the traditional skill and can have a try.

The museum also recently celebrated winning the national Visitor Welcome Award at the Museums + Heritage Awards.

Beamish, an open air museum set across 350 acres, has around 500 staff and 400 volunteers. An independent charity, it relies on income from its much-valued visitors and supporters to help maintain the museum, develop new and exciting exhibits, and support Beamish’s work to preserve North East heritage for future generations, while supporting today’s communities, including through health and wellbeing and education work.

Beamish is now looking forward to the summer ahead, when it has a programme of activities, including 1950s fun and games, Suffragette marches, pottery and poster making. Upcoming events include Crank It Up this weekend (13 - 14 July), Attelage Horse Weekend and Meccano Exhibition (20 - 21 July), Beamish Tractor Show (27 - 28 July) and North East Horticultural Society and Beamish Museum Annual Show (7 - 8 September).

With the museum’s Beamish Unlimited Pass and Friends of Beamish membership, visitors can pay once and return free for 12 months, including daytime events.