Museum News
Four years after fire crews moved out of Rochdale's Maclure Road fire station, the Museum's wish to take over the building and redevelop it as a wonderful new fire museum for Greater Manchester will now come to fruition. Thanks to a £1.7m heritage grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund, also the acquisition of the site by Rochdale Council, our plans to restore the wonderful 1933 fire station and instal a brand new fire museum can now go ahead. The Museum has been in the former workshop building at the rear of the same site since 1983 but has outgrown its present home which also lacks proper visitor and otgher facilities. Work should start later this year on the complete refurbishment of the fire station, one of Rochdale's landmark buildings, and within two years we expect to open the museum, education suite, library/archive. cafe and shop. Meanwhile the operation will continue in the existing museum building. A huge thank-you to the Heritage Lottery Fund, lottery players everywhere, Rochdale Borough Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for making this possible.
Do visit the special section on our website "COMING SOON" (to be commissioned in the next few weeks) which will provide full details, plans, images of the new museum plus lots more.
