Museums, arts centre, and windmill could close to visitors

Hampshire Cultural Trust, which operates attractions on behalf of local authorities and other organisations, is planning to implement six closures over the next two years.

Ashcroft Arts Centre at Fareham is due to shut in the autumn, followed by the town's Westbury Manor Museum in January 2025.

Eastleigh Museum, which is temporarily closed to the public, is also likely to shut at the start of next year.

Bursledon Windmill is in danger of closing to visitors (Image: Tony Fuller)

READ MORE: Bursledon Windmill at risk after Eastleigh Borough Council pulls funding

Andover Museum and the Curtis Museum at Alton are at risk of going the same way in 2026.

The Trust also plans to stop running the Grade II-listed Bursledon Windmill, which could close to the public later this year.

Chief executive Paul Sapwell said: "Faced with substantially reduced local authority funding, we have had no option but to make some very difficult decisions.

"We intend to mitigate the full effect of the funding challenge through a wider business plan that includes potentially taking on new, more financially sustainable venues as well as growing existing areas of our business.

"However, new opportunities and growth cannot fully offset the reduction in council funding currently proposed and some venue closures will therefore also be necessary."

Westbury Manor Museum at Fareham is also in danger of shutting to the public (Image: Newsquest.)

READ MORE: Eastleigh Museum to close over staffing and cost issues

Hampshire County Council is the organisation's biggest funder and currently provides it with an annual £2.5m.

But a Trust spokesperson said the authority was proposing to cut the figure by £600,000 by 2027.

The Trust operates Westbury Manor Museum on behalf of the behalf of the borough.

"Given the challenging economic climate, the Trust approached Fareham Borough Council for financial support for the museum in 2023, however this was declined," said the spokesperson.

"The Trust now intends to hand back the venue in January 2025."

Eastleigh Museum is currently shut and could close for good in January 2025 (Image: Google Streetview)

READ MORE: Fareham's Westbury Manor Museum throws open its doors after facelift

A council spokesperson said the cost of funding the museum was initially shared, with the council providing the Trust with an annual subsidy of £64,500.

"In 2016 it was agreed the council would invest £448,000 towards the refurbishment of the museum in lieu of an annual subsidy."

The spokesperson said a new ten-year management agreement was put in place, but six years later the HCT told the council it needed extra funding.

Council leader Seán Woodward added: "The agreement was signed in good faith and backed up with significant investment.

"The council is not in a position to further subsidise the HCT and in any event, based on this turn of events, it feels to me that this would be throwing good money away."