Record numbers flock to Stockport's refurbished Hat Works Museum

A museum celebrating Stockport's history of hat making has welcomed record numbers of visitors since reopening.

More than 5,500 people have been to Stockport's Hat Works Museum since it reopened on March 8, after years of work to improve the building and the displays at a cost of £100,000.

It's the first time in four years that the whole of the Hat Works has been open to visitors.

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People from all over Greater Manchester and around the country have walked through its doors since the relaunch, including from as far away as Sudbury - a town in Suffolk more than 200 miles away.

Museum staff also said they've welcomed international visitors while on trips to the UK, from countries such as America, China, and New Zealand.

Overall, there's been a 54 percent increase in visitor numbers compared to the same period in 2019.

Bronwen Simpson, from Derry, is a museum officer at the Hat Works.

The 42-year-old said the increase in visitors has led to record hat sales at the museum shop, as well as more people wanting to learn how to make hats at the site.

The surge in interest has led to plans to reinstate a millinery programme at the Hat Works Museum in future.

Ms Simpson said: "We're noticing lots of people buying hats here, we're making record sales, both womens and mens.

"It's classic styles that are still selling, like trilbys and homburgs, and cloches for women.

"There's definitely a lot of interest, people love wearing hats, and more people are discovering the joy of it as well.

"We're lucky here that we've got that hat-making knowledge, and eventually we will reinstate our millinery programme.

"In the last five years lots of people