Black Country Living Museum – Forging Ahead

For more than 35 years Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) has sought to conserve and celebrate the buildings, traditions and people, which gave the world its first industrial landscape. On its 26 acre site in Dudley, West Midlands, original structures and landscape features from the Black Country’s industrial past (lime kilns, two coal shafts and the canal arm), have been augmented by the addition of over 50 reconstructed shops, houses and workshops and 100 heritage items. It is one of the most extraordinary open-air museums in the UK.

Working industrial exhibits and demonstrations of small-scale manufacturing offer a full sensory immersion so that visitors can see, hear, taste, feel, smell, and join in 300 years of Black Country history.

Black Country Living Museum currently attracts in the region of 350,000 visitors a year.

BCLM: Forging Ahead is phase one of a 40-year master plan to create a world-class heritage attraction in the heart of the Black Country. This exciting £21.7m project will see the creation of a new historic development focusing on the 1940s – 60s, the construction of a new visitor centre and car park, and the creation of a new Learning Centre.

The development will feature a working library, shops, NHS clinic, a bowling green as well as a number of food and drink outlets that will be in keeping with the historic setting and complement the overall interpretive experience of the visit. Specifics are still to be confirmed although additional visitor catering could include a café within the new visitor centre, a recreated corner pub, a Civic Restaurant, Ambrose Dairy, Pork Butchers as well as additional pop up visitor catering outlets.

Montfort Catering Consultants worked with the Black Country Living Museum undertaking a market analysis, identifying opportunities and developing the future visitor catering strategy, as well as supporting with the development of the financial business case for this fantastic project. In conjunction with our design partners we also supported with the development of design layouts and equipment schedules for a number of the proposed new visitor food and drink outlets.

Advice & support has included:

• Client objectives & site dynamics determined
• Visitor catering strategy development
• Business potential & financial modelling
• Demand & financial models developed
• Working with design teams