After weeks of speculation it was finally decided that the National Football Museum will be leaving Preston.
Museum bosses decided earlier this month that the museum, and all its exhibits, will be moving to Manchester’s Urbis centre in the middle of the city.
The proposed new home of the museum - The Manchester Urbis
Museum bosses believe that the move will bring a lot more visitors to the museum and believe that these are ‘exciting times’.
It has been predicted that the museum will have four times as many visitors after its move to Manchester jumping from 100,000 to 400,000 guests per year.
However Preston city council leader Ken Hudson has accused museum bosses of being ‘spineless’ and is threatening legal action to stop the plans.
“Well obviously I’m massively against the plans” he said
“The museum bosses have totally betrayed the people of Preston by moving to Manchester, and also betrayed the people of Lancashire and everybody associated with football”
Mr Hudson was the leader of a rival bid by Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council, and The University of Central Lancashire to fund the museum. It was hoped that the funding on offer would help persuade the bosses to keep it in Preston.
Mr Hudson also claims that the bid from Preston City Council is the only one that secures the financial future of the museum.
The new plans for the £8 million shake up of the museum does state that the museum will leave some things in Preston, but it is thought the exhibits that remain in Preston will just be the things Manchester leaves behind.
The people of Preston were also as aggrieved by the decision as Mr Hudson “I think its wrong” one women said “It’s always been here, Preston has got just as much as Manchester has got”
One man questioned the theory of some exhibits will remain in Preston ” I think basically Manchester will take all the best stuff with them, they could have left something else besides the stuff they don’t want”.
Despite there being uproar in Preston, the tourism statistics of the two cities cannot be ignored, with Manchester welcoming more than 20 times the amount of tourists than Preston. The Urbis itself is currently attracting over 250,000 visitors per year, without the help of the National Football Museum.
Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Lees is delighted that Manchester’s offer has been accepted. “Manchester is the most visited English city outside London, so it can only be a good thing for the museum and the City of Manchester
Interview with Preston residents.
Related Links
http://www.urbis.org.uk/
http://www.preston.gov.uk/
http://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/
