Need to know
A summary of key information and figures on Hull Maritime Museum’s reopening
Part of the ground floor level at Hull Maritime Museum, just days before its reopening on August 8, 2026(Image: Donna Clifford)
The key information to know as Hull Maritime Museum gets set to reopen
- Hull Maritime Museum will reopen this weekend. It has been shut for over six-and-a-half years, since January 2020.
- Saturday, August 6 – The museum will open at 10am on Saturday. Its opening hours will be 10am to 4:30pm, Monday to Saturday, and 11am-4pm on Sundays.
- Free entry – The museum is free to enter. A new Planetarium feature is expected to have a £2 charge and a future rollout of behind the scenes tours will also require payment. But all other elements are free.
- There is a booking system, but you can also just turn up – To help manage demand as it re-opens, the Maritime Museum is running an online booking system, available here, where you can pre-book a date and time slot to visit it. However, walk-up entry is also available, you just may have to wait longer during peak periods. Capacity is being split 50 per cent each between bookings and walk-ins.
- It is bigger than before – The refurbishment has opened up new space and made the Hull Maritime Museum bigger than ever. This includes the opening for the first time of the second floor.
- More objects on display – Thanks to the larger museum space, there is more room for objects. Approximately 1,300 objects will be on display when it reopens, a 50 per cent increase on before its refurbishment closure
- £20.4m – the cost to refurbish and transform the Hull Maritime Museum. Council funding has been key, as has been £7.7m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
- Familiar favourites are back – Museum favourites have returned, including pride of place for Erik the Polar Bear, the 119-year-old North Atlantic right whale skeleton, and its extensive collection of scrimshaw, traditional carvings or engravings on ivory or bone.
- New elements – New features include the Planetarium, a dome-level view of the city centre, and a dedicated memorial room to those lost at sea.
- Interactivity and accessibility at its heart – The refurbished museum has a huge range of interactive elements, allowing visitors to experience history up close and personal. These range from being able to crawl under the North Atlantic right whale and view it from below, to a ship navigation game, touch screen displays and sensory elements. Accessibility is also a core part of the transformed museum, with the likes of BSL videos and visual cues on panels.
- Gift shop and café – The museum is also reopening with a café and a gift shop. The café is to your immediate right as you enter from the main entrance via Queen Victoria Square.
- Over 8,000 people – There have already been more than 8,000 bookings to visit the museum in its first month when it reopens.
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