Leeds City Council set to close historic watermill to cut costs

A council is provisionally closing one of its visitor attractions to meet "unprecedented financial challenges".

Leeds City Council is proposing to give up the lease at Thwaite Watermill and would plan to shut the site from 1 April, a meeting has heard.

Councillors said the move, which has been subject to public consultation, could help save between £660,000 and £756,000 over the next five years.

A final decision to surrender the lease was still pending, the council said.

Thwaite Watermill is currently open to the general public during weekends and school holidays only as well as during term time for booked groups and school visits.

According to the local authority, the Leeds Museums and Galleries attraction has been struggling with low visitor numbers, having recorded 11,114 visitors in 2022.

The council said financial pressures had now forced it to "look at options which would never have previously been considered".

A spokesperson said: "Ending the lease on Thwaite allows us to balance the urgent and unavoidable need to make cost savings with continuing to provide a diverse, high quality, accessible experience for our visitors at Leeds Museums and Galleries' other eight sites."

Despite the closure, all existing bookings would be honoured until October 2024, they added.

The proposed surrender of the lease, which was due to end in 2030, would be published as a key decision and subject to call-in by elected members.

Dating back to 1641, Thwaite Mill began life as a textiles mill before it was used for wood, oil and corn-grinding, and then for stone-crushing and making putty.

It was closed in 1976 but is one of the last remaining examples of a water-powered mill in Britain.

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