Alistair Hardaker | Image: A computer-generated image showing the new location for Walsall Leather Museum
The museum will move from Littleton Street West to a restored draper’s store between the High Street and Walsall Leather Skills Centre.
Walsall Council has purchased a new building to relocate Walsall Leather Museum from its current site on Littleton Street West to a more central location within Walsall town centre.
The council finalised the purchase of 1-3 The Bridge this week, a building located between the High Street and the Walsall Leather Skills Centre. Originally built as a drapers store, the council said the new relocation presents an opportunity to celebrate the building’s original character.
It said there will be no mandatory redundancies at the museum, with staff redeployed during the closure period.
Campaigners have been fighting since 2025 to keep the museum at its current site, where it has been based since 1988.
Plans for a new, more central museum were first floated by the council last year, prior to a new location having been announced or purchased.
A petition with over 4,000 signatures opposing the move was launched by leather designer Lauren Broxton last year. It called for the proposed relocation to be scrapped, in favour of a public consultation on the plans.
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Since then, BBC One show The Repair Shop’s Suzie Fletcher has joined calls to stop the move, alongside its former site manager Mike Glasson, per a BBC News report.
Historic England this week granted Grade II listed status to the museum’s current building, a former factory which dates back to 1891. It said it “illustrated Walsall’s leather industry at its height”.
While its listed status will not stop the museum being moved, it will restrict work carried out as the council transforms it into a building for its SEND provision for Walsall College.
The Leather Museum’s final day of operation at its current site is expected to be 11 April 2026. An opening date for the new museum has not yet been announced.
Walsall Council said during the transition period, the removal and storage of the collections will be overseen by a specialist project manager and “carried out in line with best-practice standards”.
Community groups currently hosted at the Leather Museum will continue to be supported during the temporary closure, the council said.
Patrick Burns, director of Walsall Leather Skills Centre, said the museum’s new location, next to the centre “presents a great opportunity to inspire local people and visitors alike to reconnect with Walsall’s heritage and rediscover the story of the town’s proud leather-making history.”
