Food Museum awarded £1.4m for redevelopment

Museum director, Jenny Cousins, said the money would help improve the site and its buildings

A proposal to invest almost £1.4m in redeveloping and improving a museum has been approved by a council.

The Food Museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, wants to upgrade some of its older buildings and work to increase visitor numbers by about a third to 100,000 a year by 2030.

Mid Suffolk District Council approved a £1m boost in funding for the site with an additional £3.9m coming from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Jenny Cousins, the museum’s director, said she was “totally thrilled” by the news.

The money will go towards improving the medieval barn on the site, which dates back to between the 13th and 15th Century and is one of the oldest buildings in Stowmarket.

“The building isn’t in the condition that we want it to be in,” Ms Cousins said.

“This is how we inherited it and it’s time for us to try and bring it to life and really make it sing.”

The money will also go towards improvements to Abbot’s Hall and the Robert Boby building.

Luke Deal/BBC Inside the medieval building at the Food Museum. Inside there are wooden beams and lights strung across the ceiling.

The medieval building on the museum’s site will be improved with the money

Ms Cousins added the museum would build two new permanent galleries, which will hold exhibitions and programmes.

“It’s a five-year project,” she continued.

“The building works are going to be the first two years of the project.

“We’re aiming for 2027, which is the museum’s 60th anniversary, so we really wanted to try and get everything open for then, but there’s a lot of activity that will continue after that point.”

Luke Deal/BBC Tim Weller smiles at the camera. He is bald and has a shaved beard. He wears a blue shirt with some white details on it.

Tim Weller praised the museum team for the work that had been put into the redevelopment plan

Tim Weller, a Green Party councillor and the cabinet member for environment, culture and wellbeing, said the council was confident with the museum’s vision leading to the funding agreement.

“Increasing footfall here is what helps the museum achieve its real ambitions, ensuring many more people get to see what’s here and the investment is also going to make improvements to the buildings that will enable the collections to be better accessible to people,” he added.