Gallery Oldham prepares to reopen

Gallery Oldham is preparing to reopen after disruption caused by a flood

Gallery Oldham is preparing to reopen after disruption caused by a flood in the building.

Staff opening the gallery early on Monday, March 5, discovered that there had been a flood affecting all of the east side of the building.

This included one of the gallery spaces, a store room, the Naked Bean Café and basement.

Staff immediately raised the alarm and jumped into emergency response mode to work together to save the collections and building with assistance from the emergency services, Oldham Council First Response, Oldham Library and their facilities management team. 

Councillor Barbara Brownridge, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Co-operatives, said: “We are devastated that this unfortunate turn of events has meant that we have not been open to the public as normal, but we are working hard behind the scenes to get the building fully open again as soon as we can.

“The team have been working with professionals across the north including staff from other galleries and a number of specialist conservators.

“We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has provided their assistance to support us during this time. We have been commended for our fast and appropriate actions to stabilise and save the collections and nothing has been irreparably damaged.”

As a result of the flood, the Gallery and the Naked Bean Café have been closed for the last three weeks. Oldham Library has remained open as usual.

A phased reopening will begin from Saturday, March 24, with the opening of two gallery spaces and there is a bumper programme of events planned for the Easter holidays.

From March 24 a new exhibition will open ‘Natural History (a fable of progress)’ as well as a new exhibition in the Community Gallery looking at the development of the new Cottam Street Park.

It is hoped that the Naked Bean café and the remaining gallery space will open soon after.

Unfortunately, for the next few weeks there will be no lift in operation at the Gallery. The website will be updated with full details of accessibility.

For more information and further updates visit www.galleryoldham.org.uk