£185k twist for Dickens venue

THE Charles Dickens Museum has been saved thanks to a £185,000 lottery handout.

The attraction, where the author wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, was close to collapse after months of closure due to the pandemic. It will now reopen on July 25 with an exhibition featuring the only known remaining clothes of Dickens, pictured.

Its future was secured with cash from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Cindy Sughrue, director of the museum in Holborn, central London, said: ‘Ordinarily, around half of visitors come from abroad. But with few expected this summer, we are hoping people from across the UK will choose to come here.’

Dickens’ silk waistcoat will be shown for the first time in more than 100 years as will the suit he wore to meet Edward, Prince of Wales in 1870. Visitors can also see colourised images of the author.