WESTON Museum has been rated the number one attraction to visit in Weston by users of a tourism review site.

The attraction, which just a few years ago was facing closure, has been ranked above the Grand Pier, Puxton Park and the Seaquarium on TripAdvisor.com’s list of 11 ‘Things To Do’ in and around Weston.

TripAdvisor allows members of the public to rate hotels, restaurants and attractions they have visited in towns and cities across the country.

Weston Museum in Burlington Street took the top spot in Weston – though it was only reviewed by 32 people, compared to 550 for the Grand Pier.

Museum manager Adam Brown said: “I think a lot of that is down to the events we are putting on in Weston in the school holidays.”

North Somerset councillor John Crockford-Hawley, who was instrumental in campaigning to save the museum from closure, said: “I am extremely pleased and credit should go to the staff that have helped make it happen.

“It is very encouraging, when you consider that we haven’t yet begun modernisation, that we are seeing a tremendous increase in the number of people visiting the place.

“There is a clear interest from people to find out about local history. That is very encouraging.

“So much of it is down to the high quality of the staff there and the volunteers. There is a very youthful feel to the place, they bring a certain joie de vivre to it.

“When it opened in 1974 it was a breath of fresh air in the town. It was a real ‘go-getting’ museum. But in the following 40 years successive councils invested nothing in it and it became moribund, it became boring.

“But now we are getting great support from the public and Friends of the Museum volunteers and the A1 Camera Club.”

He said that if the museum receives the £750,000 grant it is bidding for from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the ambition is to make it a regional museum for the whole area, not just a local one for Weston.

He added: “We have to attract regional exhibitions, the museum will become the place for people to visit.”

Two public consultations will be held this month to help shape the future of the attraction. They will be held on April 17 at noon and April 18 at 7.30pm at the museum.