Newmarket’s horseracing museum has been given a quarter of a million pound boost thanks to latest lottery cash grants.
The National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art was among a handful of causes to be awarded the money from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Resilient Heritage pot, gaining £249,800.
The funding is for a joint scheme with Discover Newmarket over the next two years, that aims to strengthen the museum and centre, as well as “build the capacity of staff and volunteers to better manage heritage in the long-term”.
Chris Garibaldi, director for the National Heritage Centre at Palace House, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have received the maximum award from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Resilient Heritage programme which will be used to increase our commercial and marketing capacity to build income through visitor admissions and reach new audiences.
“Over 30,000 people came through the doors last year which was triple the visitor base of the old museum, but we want to keep growing this.
“We know we have the right product but want to increase our market share and this funding will give us capacity to ensure Palace House, Newmarket and Suffolk are on the map as major tourist destinations.”
The multi-million pound museum was formally opened in November 2016, and earlier this year became one of the Arts Council England national portfolio organisations.
It has already been confirmed to have been awarded £880,000 Arts Council cash this financial year.
Discover Newmarket chairman Noel Byrne said: “We couldn’t be more pleased and are delighted for the National Heritage Centre, for Discover Newmarket and for the town. We have such a rich cultural history and the potential market share for both in-bound and domestic tourism is enormous.
“This grant will give Palace House and Discover Newmarket the capacity to maximise the opportunities for the benefit of the whole of the town.”
It is not yet clear when work on the project will start, but funding will be split over two years.
Andy Drummond from Forest Heath District Council said it was going from strength to strength, and added that the cash will “enable it to do even more to welcome not just local residents and schools but visitors from far and wide to come along, enjoy this brilliant visitor experience and discover how much Newmarket has to offer”.
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