This article was originally written by Adam Dutton for SWNS — the U.K.’s largest independent news agency, providing globally relevant original, verified, and engaging content to the world’s leading media outlets.
Folks in Kidderminster, England, are celebrating a Valentine’s Day victory: A beloved museum that closed in December is reopening temporarily after fans campaigned to save it. The Museum of Carpet, the U.K.’s only carpet museum, will welcome visitors for four days in February, starting today.
The quirky attraction was established in an 18th-century mill in 2012, and featured hundreds of rug and underlay samples from the last 300 years. In its early days, it attracted a plethora of school groups and fabric fans, who spent hours poring over the exhibits. It also gained cult status online and has 4.7 stars on TripAdvisor, with one visitor calling it “an absolute gem.” In a tongue-in-cheek video, English songwriter Gary Barlow described the attraction as a “very nice day out.”
But foot traffic eventually began to decline, and the museum was forced to shut its doors after visitors dwindled to just six per day. A November 2025 press release also cited increasing energy prices and maintenance costs (as high as $136,000 a year) as reasons for the closure, although the board of trustees promised to preserve the museum’s collection.
Following a wave of support from the public, however, trustees and volunteers met in early January to talk through reopening options. They ultimately decided to offer free general admission entry on Feb. 14, 17, 19, and 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. According to Geoffrey Gilbert, chair of the Carpet Museum Trust, volunteers were truly floored by the level of interest from locals.
“Volunteers expressed great enthusiasm and commitment to open the museum as much as possible in the coming months,” he wrote in a press release, adding: “Meanwhile discussions continue on support and funding for the development of a new museum for Kidderminster.”
Locals living in Kidderminster, which was once regarded as Britain’s carpet capital, expressed their delight at the reopening. “It’s marvelous news to see such an important slice of the town’s history opening once more,” Graham Connell, 70, told SWNS. “Almost everyone living in this country has carpets in their homes and that is down mainly to this town and the people who lived and worked here. When the museum opens again, I’ll be first in line.”
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