The former Coors Visitor Centre and Museum of Brewing is to reopen as the National Brewery Centre following a deal with attractions management company Planning Solutions.
Planning Solutions has secured a 25-year lease from Molson Coors, the former operators of the Burton-upon-Trent museum, at a peppercorn rent.
Molson Coors is also donating £200,000 in funding to launch the project, plus £100,000 a year to maintain buildings during the life of the lease.
Planning Solutions chief executive John Lowther said the museum had no option but to become a leisure attraction when it reopens in March.
“If it wants to continue just as a museum, it will never open its doors,” he said.
Lowther said the two companies would run it as a joint venture and expected it to be profitable within its second year. Coors is installing a microbrewery on site. The venue will also be available for hire.
“We are investing a substantial amount,” added Lowther. “Including Coors’ money, it will be up to £1m within the next two years.”
Lowther said the money would bring the museum “up to today’s expectations”, with interactive and hands-on displays, and audiotronics. But he said the museum’s archive would be made more accessible and the centre’s educational role expanded.
Half of the museum will be aimed at the general public, with the rest split equally between its educational role and exhibits focusing on brewing history.
Visitor numbers are expected to exceed the 100,000 a year achieved during the museum’s heyday.
