Rowing museum set to close over financial pressure

A museum has announced it will close its doors as a result of financial pressures.

The River and Rowing Museum in Henley on-Thames warned in March that it faced closure without "radical thinking" about its finances.

The museum opened in 1998, and tells stories about the River Thames, its flora and fauna, rowing, and the culture and history of the local area. It said it would close on 21 September.

Interim manager Kevin Sandhu said the solution of what to do with its collection of 35,000 artefacts could include creating a new, smaller museum.

Mr Sandhu said the museum had suffered financial loss for most of the years it had been open - mainly because of the costs associated with running the 35,000 sq ft (3,252 sq m) building.

"It's fantastic architecturally and visually," he said.

"[But] over the 30 years... technology has moved on so it's the costs of maintaining the sort of systems that operate in buildings.

"The building is huge and that takes a lot of looking after."

Mr Sandhu said admission revenue was a key source of the museum's income - but it was not keeping up with running costs.

"There's a disconnect there that we weren't able to solve," he said.

The museum's collection of artefacts ranges from an Anglo Saxon log boat to Olympic medals.

Despite the closure announcement, Mr Sandhu said it might not be the end of the museum.

"Although we are closing this building we are trying to explore ways of perhaps a new museum, possibly in Henley," he said.

"It would be a much smaller enterprise," he added.

But either way, he said, the decision about what to do with the artefacts would follow Museums Association rules and make sure they were "preserved in the public benefit".

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