Bolton Museum, Aquarium and Archive Reviews Summary

Exhibits and Displays

Pros:

• "The displays and artifacts within this area are truly remarkable, providing a fascinating glimpse into the ancient Egyptian civilization."
• "What an amazing transformation. Excellent effort to all involved. So many interactive things for the children to do whilst the grownups are reading the narrative concerning the artifacts, of which there are so many more than before."
• "The tomb chamber recreation is the highlight and as I wasn't expecting it, it made my jaw drop!"
• "Museum has a great mix of local, egyptian and natural history, including numerous interactive exhibits."
• "The history of Bolton is well illustrated but the highlight of the museum is the Egyptian gallery."
• "It’s got some impressively well preserved Egyptian clothing, rare stone columns, a beautiful bust of Nefertiti and even a display for fake artefacts forged by a local Bolton-er!"
• "You can see history of Bolton. There are items of wild nature. Kinds of birds, insects, leopard, bear... And you can find a lot of Egyptian historical objects. Mummies also."

Cons:

• "Only 1 thing - difficult for people with painful knees and hips to climb the stairs."
• "Plus to add to it a poor dead fish."
• "What a disgrace from what was supposed to be the best put together display of Egypt mummy's ect was a complete let down."
• "Several sections of the museum was closed, aside from the Egyptian exhibit, there wasn't much to entertain the kids, who largely found it boring."
• "The ivory artifacts are not pieces of significant pieces of history and should be destroyed."
• "The only downside was the Egyptology display which, though beautifully displayed, has not the immediacy that it had when we were little and the one full sized mummy had absolutely no information on display at all."
• "Museum was great, especially the ancient Egyptian section - very impressive and well worth a trip (although some of the facts are incorrect and need updating)."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Love coming here, I always feel welcome and the staff are so helpful."
• "Very friendly and helpful staff."
• "Millie, who delivered our Ancient Egyptians workshop, was absolutely captivating and children were completely absorbed for the full 90 minutes."
• "I’d like to give a big THANK YOU to the volunteer that met us at the Egypt section entrance, Bill. Very friendly, very knowledgeable and clearly very enthusiastic about what he does."
• "Staff in the library/museum were all very nice."
• "All the staff we encountered were friendly."
• "Staff were smiley chatty and positive which was nice."

Cons:

• "Although there was no staff around at the time."
• "No cons mentioned regarding staff and service."

Accessibility and Facilities

Pros:

• "It's also the most accessible local attraction I've been to - no tied up red alarm strings, accessible toilets on most floors, lifts to all floors including the mezzanine (this is rare), helpful staff/volunteers, and ramps (although one is a bit narrow due to the building age)."
• "They have lifts & also disabled lift & ramps."
• "Parking was free (Sunday only). Watch out for attendants though and follow the rules(park in bays etc)."
• "Wheelchair access to all areas."
• "Fabulous building in a quiet square in the heart of Bolton. Excellent access especially for those with limited mobility."
• "There’re toilet 🚻 facilities in the building which is great."
• "Parking outside the museum is restricted to 1 hour but there is an ncp carpark round the corner for £2.50."

Cons:

• "Aquarium desperately needs something doing to it, nice refurb on first floor, upper gallery is still the most interesting part, loads of exhibits. One small lift is just not enough for multiple push / wheelchair users."
• "Didn't find a cafe which is unusual for this kind of attraction."
• "But one down side was that it did not do the commentary for kids as adults can read the story but it's difficult for the kids to comprehend the story because small kids cannot read it..."
• "Half of the animal section upstairs was closed which was a shame."
• "The description of the amenities is a little misleading at the moment, the roof is being repaired, so many books are in the basement for the time being."
• "Really disappointed. Checked website before visiting and it said it was open but when we got there only the aquarium and art gallery were open."
• "Unfortunately the aquarium is very poor and can't really be referred to as an aquarium."

Aquarium

Pros:

• "There is a small aquarium downstairs too which my girls loved."
• "The aquarium team deserves praise for the effort in the displays and the upkeep of the fish from the world."
• "The aquarium hosts interesting freshwater fish and engages with conservation research."
• "Aquarium is small but we really enjoyed visiting, a great range of fish and a clean presentable space👍"
• "The basement contains the aquarium which is fantastic considering the space. Amazing variety of fish to see from all around the world, Piranhas being very scary looking."
• "The aquarium has a wide selection of fish from all over the world and each tank display has a panel of facts that relates to the residents of the tank."
• "Aquarium was a big hit. Its small but good enough to engage young children."

Cons:

• "They have large rays in shoe box type tanks."
• "The museum was fab (I'd give it 5 stars) but the aquarium made me feel sad (I would give it 2 stars). The tanks are far too small and, in many of them, there's nothing for the fish to hide in or go behind."
• "The ivory artifacts are not pieces of significant pieces of history and should be destroyed."
• "Good museum with convenient parking. The Aquarium isn't great, with lots of tanks left empty."
• "The museum itself is amazing.. but why I have given the 1 star is due to the way the fishes are kept … it’s disgusting and unfair to them …. They are cramped in small tanks ….. and the care isn’t there maybe they need to shut this part down …. And just keep what they can manage and maintain …. Please sort this out."
• "The fish are in tiny dirty tanks."
• "Unfortunately the aquarium is where they lost the stars for me, the big beautiful rays were in a tiny tank which was very sad to see as they can't swim as freely as they do elsewhere."