The SeaCity Museum in Southampton, opened in 2012, has seen its visitor numbers halve in the past year. Despite projecting visitor numbers at 115,550 for the year, there have been only 78,000.
It is Southampton taxpayers, however, who have had to foot the bill. Although the £15m museum received a grant of £4.9m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Southampton City Council paid the remaining £11.1m to get the museum built.
The museum also continues to cost the taxpayer money, with the local authority paying over £700,000 since its opening.
While there are valid cases for taxpayer support of the arts and cultural activities, it is clear that this has been a taxpayer funded failure, which doesn’t look likely to turn around any time soon.