U-turn sees visitor numbers swell

Income from Edinburgh’s cityrun museums and galleries has almost doubled after the council reversed a cut in opening times.

The six venues, including the City Art Centre and the Museum of Childhood, also saw a big increase in visitors, with numbers visiting the City Art Centre rising by 108 per cent.

Politicians across the par - ties welcomed the success of seven-day opening and council culture convener Donald Wilson said the venues should return to that pattern once Covid restrictions were lifted.

Opening times were cut from six or seven days a week to just five in October 2016 as part of a cost-cutting plan.

But after a review prompted by a drop in visitor numbers, it was agreed to introduce seven-day opening, 10am-5pm, at all the venues – the Museum of Edinburgh, the People’s Story, Museum of Childhood, Writers’ Museum and Queensferry Museum as well as the City Art Centre from June 2018, initially as a pilot for 12 months.

Now figures show an overall increase of 40 per cent in visitor numbers to all six venues – from 219,542 for June-november 2017 to 307,744 in the same period of 2019.