Museum trustee fears impact of second summer closure

Extensive restoration work needed at a museum means it is likely to be closed for a second successive summer.

Exeter City Council, which owns Topsham Museum, said the original restoration work was due to be completed by the end of 2025, at a cost of £400,000, but more damage had since been discovered.

Jenny Ellis, chair of the trustees, said she feared the museum, which is housed in a 17th Century Grade II listed building, would not be open this year and the closure would have a significant financial impact.

Exeter City Council said the works required were "far greater and more invasive than previously understood" and the additional funds required would have to be approved by full council.

Ellis said a second successive summer closure would be a "major issue" for the museum's finances, as it would not be able to generate any income from the tea room and other activities.

She said the trustees were looking at "other solutions" but needed Exeter City Council "to do their bit too".

She said one solution could be for the museum to be handed over to the trustees on a Community Asset Transfer. That would leave the cost of the additional repairs in the hands of the museum's trustees.

Ellis said even though that would mean substantial fundraising, she was "more confident we could just get on with it, rather than this endless delay".

An Exeter City Council spokesman said: "The works required are far greater and more invasive than previously understood. Due to the age of the building, as more work has been carried out, this has exposed further issues that need to be resolved.

"As the costs of the works exceed the current budget, we would therefore have to return to council to ask for additional funds.

"In the long term, an application has been put in for legal ratification of the terms on which the council received the building, and we await the view of the court."

The museum is housed in one of a group of late 17th century buildings overlooking the Exe estuary.

Displays give a timeline of the town's history with a focus on Topsham's maritime history, its role as a trade port and shipbuilding centre.

The museum also holds an extensive collection of memorabilia about the actress Vivien Leigh.

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