The Whitworth one month on

18 Mar 2015

The Whitworth, which re-opened after its £15 million renovation on 14 February, has seen a huge rise in visitor numbers since it was last open

In the first four weeks of opening 80,000 people have come through the new doors to enjoy ten exhibitions from the likes of Cornelia Parker, Cai Guo-Qiang and Sarah Lucas, as well as displays showing the best of the collection.

The numbers represent a fivefold increase over the same period in 2013.

Gallery director, Maria Balshaw told the Manchester Evening News that the huge growth in numbers is because of media coverage “conveying the sense of excitement and invigoration that the building now has”, as well as its increased prominence in Whitworth Park.

She said: “We thought we might get 40,000 visitors, and when we told the Heritage Lottery Fund that number they said, ‘That’s quite ambitious’.

“We felt confident of that: we’re much bigger, the exhibitions are fabulous and we’ve opened up to the park. But 40,000 is what we were preparing for!

As well as being a hit with visitors the new gallery has been a critical success with the architecture press and is up for a Royal Institute of Architects award for excellence in architecture.

Although the exhibitions have been a huge success the runaway hit has been the new “café in the trees” run by Peter Booth’s The Modern Caterer. Despite the café,  in a  new glass wing, increasing capacity to 120 covers it has seen long queues every day. The new outdoor terrace opens at Easter will add an extra 50 covers.

As well as the fantastic exhibitions and café there is also a full programme of family events, talks, tours and workshops including Saturday Supplement every weekend and Thursday Lates which see the gallery now open to 9pm every Thursday.

The Whitworth, which re-opened after its £15 million renovation on 14th February has seen a huge rise in visitor numbers since its was last open.