Disused former art gallery to be sold owing to spiralling costs

A former art gallery has been put up for sale after failing to cover running costs when grant funding ran out.

The Yare Gallery in Great Yarmouth opened in 2021 following the collapse of the Norfolk Nelson Museum, which shut in 2019.

Grant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the government’s Culture Recovery Fund ran out in 2023.

The Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust, which owns the building, says it cannot afford to keep the premises mothballed.

Bernard Williamson, the chairman of the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust, said the building was purchased and restored in the early 2000s to create the Norfolk Nelson Museum, marking the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

“When the Yare Gallery closed it became a drain on the financial reserves of the preservation trust as it wasn’t meeting its overheads,” he said.

“We can’t find anyone to use it. If someone came to use with a viable use we would consider it, but that hasn’t happened.

“It is a sad situation, but we are looking to dispose of it as an asset and use the finance from the sale across our properties.”

Mr Williamson said the proceeds of the sale would not be used to acquire new properties at risk, but on current projects.

Marketing agents East Commercial described the property as “a prestigious property originally a Georgian merchant’s house which has for many years housed The Nelson Museum and which in future would suit a variety of alternative uses (subject to any necessary planning consents).”