A new brewing visitor centre and museum in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, is to open at the site of the Coors Visitor Centre and Museum of Brewing - formerly the Bass Museum - which closed in June last year.
The new attraction, to be operated by Planning Solutions and called the The National Brewery Centre, will retain key elements of the original facility - which included historic vehicles, a micro-brewery and a shire horse collection - and see the updating and reorganisation of the site.
Molson Coors UK is making a contribution to the new development by providing the buildings and artefacts at a peppercorn rent, donating £200,000 in matched funding to get the project moving and a further £100,000 annually for the maintenance of the buildings throughout a 25-year lease.
John Lowther, Planning Solutions chief executive, said: "Burton has a proud position in not only the UK's brewing industry, but throughout the world.
"We are delighted to be opening The National Brewery Centre and celebrating the vital contribution that the town has made to our brewing industry and heritage.
"I know from our many discussions with local people that this will be widely welcomed and it will provide a much-needed boost for tourism and local employment."
John Polglass, director of business and property services, Molson Coors, said "Molson Coors has always been committed to finding an organisation that can provide a long term future for a Brewing Museum in Burton and we are delighted to support Planning Solutions' plans to put Burton on the UK tourist map."
A local action group, formed in January 2009 by Burton MP Janet Dean to campaign for the reopening of the site, welcomed the announcement. Chair Keith Norris said: "The group is very pleased to give our unanimous support to the proposals. We are confident that the plan will not only secure the reopening of the museum but also offers exciting opportunities for it to become a truly national visitor attraction."
Planning Solutions is a specialist research and development company whose clients include English Partnerships, the British Council, Forestry Commission, the Land Restoration Trust, East Midlands Development Agency, Vinopolis, Rank Group, the Wales Tourist Board, the Rotch Group, Tourism South East, Warner Hotels, Welsh Development Agency and RSPB.
Pic from left: John Lowther, Planning Solutions; John Polglass, Molson Coors; Keith Norris, chair of Local Action Group; Janet Dean, MP for Burton-Upon-Trent
