These are the five best museums in the UK — have you visited them?

Times

29-04-2025

On the day that Art Fund announces the shortlist for its museum of the year award it's customary for pundits to catalogue all the ways in which the UK's 2,500 museums are under threat. Let today be no exception! Since last year's award there has been a general election, won by a party that promised to support museums and find ways of increasing public access. Some emergency funding has duly been provided: £120 million to be shared among the national museums; £20 million to help civic museums to stay open.
But no one believes museums are out of trouble. With some shining exceptions they are struggling to reach the visitor figures they had before the pandemic. Their heating bills have gone through the roof. If they are backed by a local authority they have probably been clobbered by cuts to their subsidy. They aren't getting as many school trips as education budgets tighten. And in many museums vital maintenance work is being postponed.
Yet it's also customary on this day to point out that, against all odds, some museums are finding exciting new ways to present their collections and engage with audiences they have never reached before. Five such instances are on this year's shortlist — none of them, refreshingly, from London or the home counties. Each will receive £15,000, with £120,000 awaiting the winner, announced on June 26. Here are snapshots of all five.
Origins: This magnificent 500-acre open-air site, surrounded by woodland, was visited by 838,000 people last year, making it the most popular attraction in northeast England.
Jewels in its crown: Reconstructions of how life was lived in this industrial heartland at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries, complete with staff in period costumes and even historically themed food outlets. 'We have an original drift mine here, a stunning Georgian manor farmhouse and a 1940s farm,' says Rhiannon Hiles, the chief executive. 'The rest is translocated [has been brought in from other places], to use a very museum-y word.'
Recently: Beamish has just extended its historical range with the creation of a 1950s town.
Challenges: The museum's founder, Frank Atkinson, wanted the museum to recreate communities within living memory, so in the next decade or two the Beamish will need to expand to the 1970s or 1980s.
If it won the £120,000: 'We run a brilliant wellbeing programme which needs more investment,' Hiles says. 'We have a waiting list of groups of people with, for example, dementia who want to use the museum. I hate having a waiting list. We need to address that.'
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Origins: Founded in 1971 by two artists in a former Edwardian school building, it's now a thriving multipurpose arts centre with theatre, gallery, cinemas, rehearsal spaces, café and garden.Jewels in its crown: It provides working space for 80 artists and creative companies. 'They are the beating heart of the organisation,' says Hannah Firth, Chapter's artistic director. 'We do a lot of co-curating with them, and I think it's vital to give Welsh creative talents support and space so they can work without leaving Wales.'
Recently: Lots of schemes have been launched to make the centre accessible to all, including pay-what-you-can tickets, packed lunches for children in school holidays, and a 'no questions asked' community larder.
Challenges: Several vital cultural organisations in Cardiff are in financial difficulties, and the Welsh government doesn't seem to have many answers. 'It's a very tough time to run an arts centre,' Firth says.
If it won the £120,000: 'We missed out on our 50th anniversary because of Covid,' Firth says, 'so we want our 55th year to be a celebration of our achievements and those of the wider arts community here.'
Origins: Splendid 18th-century mansion rescued from dereliction by the philanthropist Peter Moores.
Jewels in its crown: Six world-class art collections, cheerfully unrelated to each other, from British folk art to Chinese bronzes,and 120 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown.
Recently: Last year an ambitious Sculpture in the Park exhibition featured work by Sarah Lucas, Permindar Kaur, Helen Chadwick and others. 'Peter Moores used to say things like 'open doors, open minds',' says Geraldine Collinge, the chief executive. 'He wanted to create an accessible gallery in the middle of the country. We try to build on his legacy.'
Challenges: 'Our visitor figures are 20 per cent up on pre-Covid figures, but we have to make sure we get the pricing right to fund everything we want to do without putting people off,' Collinge says. 'Under-18s go free, we have a community pass for local visitors, and last year we launched a £2 ticket for people on income support and pension credit.'
If it won the £120,000: 'We would continue to invest so more and more people discover this wonderful place,' Collinge says.
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Origins: 'We started out in the late 1990s up on Crumlin Road, between the two communities,' says Peter Richards, the co-director. 'It was deemed to be the epicentre of civil unrest. Then we transitioned to a former electricity switch room. We are now on our third iteration, in Queen Street in the city centre.'
Jewels in its crown: Golden Thread is Belfast's leading contemporary art gallery, showing Northern Irish artists and international work.
Recently: The move to Queen Street allowed expansion to two large gallery spaces and a community and participation hub. 'That's placed right at the front of the building, with big windows so that people passing can see what's going on inside,' says Sarah McAvera, the co-director. 'That makes the place much more approachable.'
Challenges: 'Arts funding per head in Northern Ireland is among the lowest in Europe — a fifth of what it is down south [in Ireland],' McAvera says. 'And Belfast has some of the highest deprivation rates in the UK. That's why it's really important that everything we do, including workshops, is free.'
If it won the £120,000: 'That money would be genuinely life-changing,' McAvera says. 'It's over half of what we get each year from the Arts Council. We could use it to do extra projects we couldn't contemplate otherwise.'
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Origins: Though now in new premises, its collections are among the oldest in the UK, dating back 200 years.
Jewels in its crown: It houses the Stone of Destiny, now back in Perthshire after 700 years, and the 3,000-year-old Carpow Logboat. 'We reckon we tell 10,000 years of history,' says Helen Smout, the chief executive.
Recently: The museum reopened in March last year in the former Perth City Hall, following the £27 million redevelopment of a building closed for nearly 20 years. Since then it has attracted 250,000 visitors. This summer's big exhibition is about Macbeth, the man and the play. 'Both Birnam Wood and Dunsinane Hill are just up the road,' Smout says.
Challenges: 'When we opened last year there was a lot of 'what's it going to do for us?' scepticism among local businesses,' Smout says. 'We have to show them that the hotels are full and the shops booming because of the extra visitors we have attracted.'
If it won the £120,000: 'I would set up a transport fund for schools that are struggling to send classes here for a visit,' Smout says.
artfund.org
Which museums do you think should be considered for the award next year? Let us know in the comments