Museum Closure in the UK: Themes, Issues, and Trends

Abstract

Museum closure has received little attention within museum studies. Not only is there scant understanding about how museums close, but so far little has been published about which museums have closed in the UK, and much of what has been published lacks detailed analysis. In this article I set out the best available data on museum closure between 1960 and 2022, using the Mapping Museums dataset. I analyse that data to show patterns of closure in a range of categories including size, governance, location, subject matter, and accreditation status, and  discuss possible reasons for some of the main groups of closures. I also analyse chronological data to show the broad trends of opening and closing in the sector during a period of over sixty years.