Council backs Tapestry centre despite £500,000 losses

The £6.8m tapestry centre was funded from public money on the strength of a 2016 business case which predicted more than 50,000 paying visitors would arrive each year.

The figures from Jura Consultants also predicted total losses of £185,000 across the first five years, which SBC agreed to underwrite.

While the 160 hand-stitched panels have proved to be a draw since the centre opened in August 2021, the numbers have been disappointing.

During its first two full years of being open there were 22,303 paying customers in 2022/23 and 22,115 during 2023/24.

Over the same two financial years SBC has underwritten losses of about £440,000 – with deficits from the previous eight months undisclosed.

A spokesperson for the authority said: “In both years, around £220,000 of support was directed to the Great Tapestry of Scotland’s operational deficit, arising from increased energy costs and lower than targeted visitor numbers linked to the post-Covid operating environment.”