York Castle Museum loses £400k after Raac find sparked closure

York Castle Museum was built on the site of the former York County Gaol

A landmark museum in York lost £400,000 in revenue last year after the discovery of potentially dangerous concrete led to a three-month closure.

The Castle Museum was shut between September and December after reinforced autoclaved concrete (Raac) was found.

The site "cannot continue to trade at a deficit", according to a report to be seen by City of York councillors.

Kathryn Blacker, chief executive of York Museums Trust, said it had been a "difficult year".

In a report due to be presented to councillors on 9 April, Ms Blacker said that although the museum, housed in the former York County Gaol, was able to re-open in early December, "we had to drop our prices in this period and we had much lower visitor numbers, which impacted our retail and catering on site".

While the museum was able to reopen in time to offer its intended programme of Christmas events, "we were not able to market this fully because of the need to have completed the repairs", Ms Blacker said.

"Having reopened on 8 December, we had already foregone the first three weeks of our planned Christmas season."

'Future sustainability'

Ms Blacker said the total lost revenue from the closure was £400,000 and the trust had been forced to find £80,000 from its reserves to cover the unplanned remedial works to deal with the Raac found in the museum's roof.

Raac was used between the 1950s and 1990s, but it is less durable than standard concrete and has a lifespan of around 30 years.

"Unfortunately, we have still not been able to reopen the upper half of the Female Prison because of the need to mitigate remaining Raac issues," Ms Blacker said.

The trust was working with the council and others to explore how the site's "future sustainability" could be protected, she added.

It hoped to secure a £5m Museum Estate and Development Fund fund bid in 2024-25, which would help with the re-roofing of the museum and recoup the losses, according to Ms Blacker.

The trust currently receives an annual grant of £300,000 from City of York Council.