Edinburgh history museum to remain closed over funding gap

Old Town resident Jim Slaven, who is leading the campaign to save the museum, said the facility needed “love and investment,” describing plans for its closure as “social vandalism”.

“For working class people in this city, life is pretty difficult,” he said.

“People are pushed to the margins in every sense and the symbolism of having a working class history museum telling their story right in the centre of town is absolutely crucial, and to close it will be the final nail in the coffin.”

The council’s head of museums and galleries, Karl Chapman, admitted the interim closure “seems harsh” but said he wanted to “buy ourselves some time” to draw up alternative proposals.

“As officers it’s our responsibility to mitigate [the overspend],” he said. “On staffing at the moment, we just don’t have the numbers.”

The museum collection includes paraphernalia from social and political movements and realistic depictions of workshops, wartime kitchens and a jail cell.

Mr Chapman said it needed to remain as a “standalone museum”.

Former councillor and MP George Kerevan, who was part of the city’s first Labour administration which agreed to establish the People’s Story, said its closure risked “losing [Edinburgh’s] identity”.

He said: “I’m incandescently angry because it’s a trivial amount of money they are trying to save.

“It’s a huge budget the council has, to take £200k out of it, it’s not really about that, it’s about expunging the history of Edinburgh.”