Campaigners are to press for a new home for the London Fire Brigade Museum following expected approval for its closure as Museums Journal went to press.
The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority was due to approve closing the museum as part of its annual budget review.
The museum is in Winchester House in Southwark, which is the London Fire Brigade Training Centre. But under the review, training will be outsourced and the fire authority is proposing to close the building in April.
The Friends of the London Fire Brigade Museum, which costs about £80,000 a year to run, hope a new home for the collection can be agreed at the Old Fire Brigade Headquarters on the Albert Embankment.
The Friends’ Dave Rogers said the museum attracted more than 12,000 visitors a year and raised up to £30,000 annually from its shop.
“It’s odd to lose it in the year of the Cultural Olympiad,” he said. “Our main concern is that if the collection goes to storage, it will be broken up.”
Rogers said mayor of London Boris Johnson was keen for the 15,000-item collection to remain intact. Meanwhile, Ryedale’s Malton Museum is mounting a Fifty Favourite Finds exhibition before it loses its home at the town hall.
The museum will close on 29 February when the lease on the district council’s building runs out and the authority moves to cheaper premises.
Chairman of trustees David Lloyd-Williams said: “We have not had to pay for premises for 80 years and are not in a position to pay.”
The collection, which is mainly archaeological, will be put into storage in March if a new home is not found. Volunteers may be used to keep the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum open during the winter.
Middlesbrough Museums & Galleries Service has closed the museum for the winter as part of its budget cuts, and is in talks with local groups to see if reopening before next spring is feasible.
The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority was due to approve closing the museum as part of its annual budget review.
The museum is in Winchester House in Southwark, which is the London Fire Brigade Training Centre. But under the review, training will be outsourced and the fire authority is proposing to close the building in April.
The Friends of the London Fire Brigade Museum, which costs about £80,000 a year to run, hope a new home for the collection can be agreed at the Old Fire Brigade Headquarters on the Albert Embankment.
The Friends’ Dave Rogers said the museum attracted more than 12,000 visitors a year and raised up to £30,000 annually from its shop.
“It’s odd to lose it in the year of the Cultural Olympiad,” he said. “Our main concern is that if the collection goes to storage, it will be broken up.”
Rogers said mayor of London Boris Johnson was keen for the 15,000-item collection to remain intact. Meanwhile, Ryedale’s Malton Museum is mounting a Fifty Favourite Finds exhibition before it loses its home at the town hall.
The museum will close on 29 February when the lease on the district council’s building runs out and the authority moves to cheaper premises.
Chairman of trustees David Lloyd-Williams said: “We have not had to pay for premises for 80 years and are not in a position to pay.”
The collection, which is mainly archaeological, will be put into storage in March if a new home is not found. Volunteers may be used to keep the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum open during the winter.
Middlesbrough Museums & Galleries Service has closed the museum for the winter as part of its budget cuts, and is in talks with local groups to see if reopening before next spring is feasible.
