“Leather is a fundamental part of Walsall’s heritage: we must preserve it”. That was one of the slogans of the demonstrators who protested on Saturday, February 8, against the uncertain future of the Walsall Leather Museum, one of the city’s tourist attractions. The City Council will decide the fate of the museum on Wednesday, February 12. Citizens fear that the decision will result in downsizing, if not closure.
The Walsall Leather Museum
Walsall is a town in England, located 14 km from Birmingham and 9 km from Wolverhampton, with a population of 250,000 (including metropolitan area). In 1988, to celebrate the traditions of the location, the Walsall Leather Museum opened in a renovated Victorian industrial building: an exhibition space based on the history of the leather trade in Walsall, which has grown from a small market town into an international center for saddle-making.
Walsall citizens in protest
According to the Walsall City Council, the museum doesn’t attract enough visitors, so it’s considering a possible relocation to another site. Thus, last Saturday (Feb. 8, 2025), Walsall’s citizens took to the streets to protest against this possibility. The protesters told the BBC that the current location of the museum is of enormous importance. They fear that the relocation and subsequent downsizing within the new location, could result in many artifacts ending up in storage, eventually leading to closure.
Hands off
“The building is the museum: it’s as important as the collectios”, Lauren Broxton, a Birmingham City University designer who organized the event, tells the BBC. “It’s an integral part of the experience, because it’s an authentic leather goods factory from the 1800s, and I don’t think you can recreate it anywhere else”. Walsall and Bloxwich Labour MP Valerie Vaz also joined the protest to safeguard the museum’s heritage. “It’s part of Walsall’s heritage. There are generations of people who have visited the museum and understood how important the museum and the leather industry are to the town”, (source expressandstar.com).
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