Stoke-on-Trent museum to shut for filming under city council plans

Gladstone Pottery Museum has been the backdrop to film and TV programmes including The Great Pottery Throw Down and biopic The Colour Room

A museum could be closed for five months each year to allow it to be marketed for film and TV productions, under council proposals.

The idea for the Grade II* listed Gladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, is part of the local authority's budget plans to save £10m.

They also include cutting about 19 full-time staff in the city's museums service and creating 5.5 new roles.

A consultation on the local authority's proposals runs until 14 February.

Based in a former pottery, it has been working museum since 1974 and the backdrop to several film and TV programmes.

The venue is the current base for Channel 4's The Great Pottery Throw Down and was used to film scenes from Sky's The Colour Room, a film biopic in 2021 of British ceramic artist Clarice Cliff.

The council's budget plans for 2022-23 want to save £560,000 from the museums service with a revamp of the organisation.

Under the proposals, Gladstone would only be open to the public and schools from April to October each year, with the site marketed for "filming and events" for the rest of the year.

The plans would also see the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery only open for five days each week

The plans would also see the weekly opening days of the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, home to artefacts from the Staffordshire Hoard, reduced from seven days to five.

Both museums have been closed over the festive period and are due to reopen on the 17 and 18 January.

The proposals would see two ceramics curator posts cut and replaced with a new role titled "curator - contemporary collecting".

The proposals for the job cuts were revealed to councillors at a human resources committee on Thursday and the council said it had begun a formal consultation with staff and trade unions until 2 February.

Overall budget plans to save £10m in Stoke-on-Trent were announced by the local authority on Tuesday. They include increasing council tax by 2.99% and closing three children's centres.