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The Gladstone Pottery Museum has been named the best small visitor attraction in the country at a prestigious awards ceremony.
The heritage attraction, which tells the story of the North Staffordshire Pottery industry, won the Gold Award in the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year category at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2020, which was hosted by Julia Bradbury and broadcast live on VisitEngland’s YouTube Channel and the VisitBritain website on Monday 17th August.
Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent fought off competition from the Shire Hall Historic Courthouse Museum, Dorset, and the Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath, having progressed to the national finals by winning the Small Visitor Attraction award at the Enjoy Staffordshire Tourism & Good Food Awards last October.
The success is a welcome boost for the museum, which has not yet reopened after the Coronavirus shutdown.
Staffordshire County Council Senior Marketing Officer Andrea Sammons said: “We’re delighted that, having won Gold in the Enjoy Staffordshire Tourism & Good Food Awards last October, the Gladstone Pottery Museum has gone on to take the national title.
“In such a highly contested category, it’s a fantastic achievement for the team at Gladstone and great news for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, helping to put the county on the map, and once again demonstrates the exceptional quality of our visitor attractions.
“In winning the award, they have followed in the footsteps of the National Memorial Arboretum, which won Gold in the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year category in 2018.”
The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence celebrate and champion innovation, quality and best practice across the industry recognising businesses and individuals who raise the bar of England’s tourism offer.
The winners were selected from hundreds of tourism businesses across England including hotels, self-catering accommodation, B&Bs, glamping operators, attractions, restaurants, pubs, museums and conference centres.
For a full list of national winners go to the VisitBritain website
ENDS
For more information please contact Richard Swancott by emailing richard.swancott@staffordshire.gov.uk
Editor notes
Enjoy Staffordshire is the consumer facing brand of Destination Staffordshire.
Launched in 2006, Destination Staffordshire is a private/public sector partnership of major attractions, tourism businesses and local authorities created to develop and drive leisure and business tourism economies in Staffordshire.
Eligible winners from 18 local competitions which took place during 2019 and 2020, including the Enjoy Staffordshire Tourism & Good Food Awards, were forwarded to the national competition. Following a rigorous judging process 53 finalists competed in this year’s VisitEngland Awards for Excellence across 15 ‘core categories’ and four special awards. The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2020 is the culmination of the first awards cycle since the modernisation of the awards in March 2019.
All winners receive a framed certificate with Gold winners also receiving a trophy.
Related
Located in a Victorian pottery factory, Gladstone museum offers a fascinating insight into the history of Stoke-on-Trent, famous the world over for the quality of its pottery.
