Number 1 reopens on August 5th!

Bath Preservation Trust’s flagship museum, No 1 Royal Crescent, will re-open on Wednesday 5th August with newly-arranged safe opening arrangements for visitors on pre-booked tickets.

The Trust says it wants to give potential visitors and audiences confidence that it will be safe and enjoyable to visit again. Visitor numbers will be controlled and a new one-way route will separate household groups as they go through the display rooms of the magnificent Grade 1-listed Georgian townhouse.

Take-home family trails will be available for young visitors and the Trust is keen for family groups to visit in their ‘bubble’. The museum shop will also be open and can be visited separately.

The Trust has been able to invest in the new visitor arrangements thanks to a Coronavirus Emergency grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

This grant will also allow for solar gazing events in the garden of the Herschel Museums of Astronomy (also supported by the Herschel Society), the resumption of small weddings at Beckford’s Tower, the development of exclusive tours at all the Trust’s museums and the development of educational materials, school visits and online provision for the autumn.

An independent charity, the Trust does not receive core funding to support revenue costs from national funders or local government and its loss of 90% of its income with the closure of its museums in March has had an immediate and severe impact.

Claire Dixon, BPT Museums Director, said:

“We are very excited about welcoming visitors back to the Museum next week and are immensely grateful that the Heritage Fund is supporting us at this challenging time. Although we cannot open all of our museums to the general public as we did before, we feel this is a first step in our long journey to recovery. A ‘staycation summer’ is an opportunity to visit the treasures on your doorstep and we hope that locals as well as visitors will take this opportunity with us.’