Developing Abbey House Museum

Find out updates on how Leeds Museums & Galleries are working to develop Abbey House Museum.

If you have specific questions you can get in touch with us by sending an email to museumsandgalleries@leeds.gov.uk with ‘AHM Development’ in the title. 

Updated: April 2025

• Elected members met with museum staff at Abbey House on Friday 25th April to ensure wellbeing of staff, get updates on plans to redevelop the museum, and discuss issues and opportunities with both Abbey House Museum and Kirkstall Abbey. 
  
  
• A new development plan based on visitor research, public feedback, the views of customers, and the expertise of staff has been drafted and will be shared with the local community later in the year. The main vision for the site is to create a more sustainable, more playful people’s history museum for Leeds. The museum would also be more accessible, have broader appeal, and attract more repeat visits.
  
  
• This development will take some time to deliver in full and requires funding, but in the meantime, there will be some changes within the Victorian Street over the summer and autumn. Visitors will be able to play shopkeeper, sit in one of the cottages, dress up in the photographic studio and investigate in a new police station! Museum staff are liaising with various stakeholders on potential future displays.
  
  
• Discussions are taking place with commercial partners based around new opportunities and use of areas of the building.
  
  
• Leeds Museums and Galleries (who manage Abbey House Museum and Kirkstall Abbey) and LCC Green Spaces (who manage the parkland on both sides of the A65 around those sites), have agreed to form a joint management board which will meet on a regular basis with input from local elected members.
  
  
• LMG have invested in new racking for existing leaflets at all of its eight sites, including Abbey House Museum, and have applied to the Community Committees Wellbeing Fund for support in non-digital marketing promoting Abbey House Museum.
  
  
• A proposal on brown heritage road signage is being developed with the Friends of Leeds City Museums.
  
  
• Abbey House Museum is reviewing its opening hours with the intention of opening earlier on Saturdays. 

Plan your next visit to Abbey House Museum