Tickets sell out on museum’s first day of reopening

Leicester’s flagship museum has reopened to the public, with all 200 available tickets snapped up for its opening day.

The venue said that many of the visitors through the door at the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery on New Walk headed to see the new LEGO exhibition Brick City.

Head of arts, museums, festivals and events Jo Jones said: “Staff have worked really hard to get the museum ready for our visitors, and all the systems we’ve put in place to keep people safe are working well.

“After being closed for such a long time, it’s brilliant to see people in the museum once again – and we look forward to welcoming many more in the coming weeks and months.”

To help social distancing, visitor numbers in the museum will be managed, with people being asked to book their free visit in advance on the museum’s new website or over the phone.

A maximum of 20 people were able to book a slot every 30 minutes on the opening day as museum staff tested the system out, but that will be increased to 30 tickets per slot for visits to the museum this weekend.

The museum can safely accommodate 200 visitors at any one time, so the aim is to increase numbers further – up to a maximum of 40 people per 30-minute slot.

Bookings are required to visit all of Leicester’s museums, which are reopening to the public on a phased basis.