{"id":774068,"date":"2026-02-19T04:27:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T04:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/774068\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T04:27:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T04:27:19","slug":"major-work-starts-on-potteries-museum-art-gallerys-5m-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/774068\/","title":{"rendered":"Major work starts on Potteries Museum &#038; Art Gallery&#8217;s \u00a35m transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The contract has now be signed &#8211; everything you need to know<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_The_Potteries_Museum_and_Art_Gallery_Re_Imagined.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"How the Potteries Museum &amp; Art Gallery will look\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">How the Potteries Museum &amp; Art Gallery will look<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Major work is now underway after a \u00a35 million contract has been signed to overhaul Hanley&#8217;s Potteries Museum &amp; Art Gallery. Construction firm Seddon has been appointed to transform with <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stokesentinel.co.uk\/all-about\/potteries-museum-and-art-gallery\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">city centre attraction<\/a> with a new entrance, a foyer cafe and improved public spaces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Preparatory works have now been completed and the main building work will begin this month. The museum is set to reopen in stages from March 28. From that date, visitors will be able to access the Spitfire, the Forum Theatre and Violet\u2019s caf\u00e9 which will feature a new display, with managed entry while work continues elsewhere in the building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Plans also include creating increased open storage, allowing artefacts to be seen by visitors when they are not on formal display.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">And an artist-in-residence room will be established, enabling artists to work alongside the museum&#8217;s collections and create new pieces inspired by them.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1_potteriesm.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Potteries Museum &amp; Art Gallery\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Potteries Museum &amp; Art Gallery<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for finance, anti-poverty and corporate services at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: \u201cThis \u00a35 million investment protects one of Stoke-on-Trent\u2019s most important cultural assets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe Potteries Museum &amp; Art Gallery is home to the world\u2019s largest collection of Staffordshire ceramics and the iconic Spitfire that draws visitors from across the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThese improvements will create a stronger entrance, better public spaces and a more welcoming environment, while keeping our nationally significant collections accessible as work progresses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The redevelopment comes after a successful council for \u00a35 million from Arts Council England and the Department for Culture Media and Sport Cultural Development Fund.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a aria-label=\"Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google SearchLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stokesentinel.co.uk\/news\/stoke-on-trent-news\/even-more-north-staffordshire-exclusives-10807054\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><a aria-label=\"Get daily headlines and breaking news emailed to you - it\u2019s FREELink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stokesentinel.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Get daily headlines and breaking news emailed to you &#8211; it\u2019s FREE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The contract has now be signed &#8211; everything you need to know How the Potteries Museum &amp; Art&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,87723,4729,226151,86493,16,15],"class_list":["post-774068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-hanley","tag-museums","tag-spitfire","tag-stoke-on-trent-city-council","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116095408353370382","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}