Leeds Industrial Museum to receive huge £653,000 grant to recover from years of flooding damage

Leeds Museums and Galleries have been awarded the grant from Arts Council England as part of the Museum Estate and Development funding.

The funding is set to aid recovery from a series of horrific floods on the site, with the worst in 2015 leading to public gallery space being closed.

The devastating December flooding forced the museum, which was once the world’s largest woollen mill, to close for almost three months while staff and council officers all pitched in for a massive clean-up operation.

Speaking at the time, keeper Sarah Barton said: "It was heartbreaking to see the site flooded and to have to close, so it’s obviously been a tough couple of months for everyone who knows and loves the museum.

“But we’ve also been genuinely touched and humbled by the support we’ve had and it’s really helped motivate us to get back up and running, so we’d like to once again say thank you to everyone who has pitched in.”

This funding will address backlog maintenance issues for the Drying House and Engine Shed structures and landmark chimney stack at the museum.