Gladstone Pottery Museum Entrance Reviews Summary

Visitor Experience

Pros:

• "Great place to visit. We were chasing info regarding our forebears who worked in the industry."
• "Can't recommend enough. Allow at least 3 hours to visit."
• "Fantastic place with some lovely heritage, great place for the kids..very educational."
• "What a fantastic museum, full of information and history of our once great pottery industry."
• "Fantastic museum. Very accessible."
• "Such a well preserved step back in time. Great to see people working there keeping it alive."
• "A really interesting experience. Went with my family and were there for several hours exploring all the things."

Cons:

• "Still waiting for my refund."
• "Twice now we’ve driven out to the place and it’s been closed despite saying they’re open online."
• "No staff!! No nothing. Awful, disappointing and rather depressing."
• "Cannot give it the 5th star because our visit was too fast."
• "Terrible waste of money. No demonstrations. No interactive activities. No staff!! No nothing."
• "This is not a museum that anyone who is not able bodied would feel comfortable visiting."
• "The museum itself has a non interactive 'feel' to it."

Staff and Demonstrations

Pros:

• "We spoke to two lovely ladies who work there, and they were so helpful and informative."
• "The staff were very obliging and informative."
• "The staff were very friendly, informative, nice and happy to answer all questions no matter what."
• "Staff was very knowledgeable and friendly."
• "Staff were welcoming, friendly, helpful and informative."
• "The staff there were friendly, kind, helpful, initiative and well informed."
• "Staff from the ticket desk through the Tea Room were all excellent, helpful and friendly."

Cons:

• "No demonstrations. No interactive activities."
• "Sadly due to covid all hands on experiences have been stopped which is a shame."
• "Covid restricted hands on experiences but a lot of boards and artifacts."
• "I would have preferred human guides on site to explain some of the apparent discrepancies."

Cafe and Food

Pros:

• "We had a drink and a scone with jam and cream in the cafe."
• "The cafe is clean, friendly and not too expensive."
• "The restaurant was really good and the food was tasty."
• "Tea Room serves traditional Staffordshire Oat Cakes."
• "The bacon, sausage and cheese oatcakes were delicious and the service was lovely too."
• "Had some dinner too in the cafe which was nice."
• "Cafe served delicious food."

Cons:

• "The cafe isn't outstanding but fine for a quick snack."
• "There is a cafe but food choices are limited and unfortunately nothing for vegans."
• "Only criticism is on the cafe could definitely be improved. Very basic."
• "The museum is great but the cafe was disappointing we went to have lunch but they only had cakes no sandwiches."
• "Tea room friendly but slow when there are quite a few visitors 10- 15 minutes wait for a toasted tea cake is not really good enough."

Accessibility and Facilities

Pros:

• "Entry was cheap and an extra £5 to have a go at pot throwing was well worth it."
• "All amenities were very clean and tidy."
• "Great facilities, parking."
• "Nearly all was wheelchair accessible."
• "The museum was easy to walk around with level flooring."
• "It is excellent and it is adapted for prams and wheelchairs."
• "Also free parking and good value to enter and do activities."

Cons:

• "There are steps & cobbles so I would probably avoid bringing a pram."
• "People love buying postcards and posters but those in the shop were disappointing."
• "It's a shame they were all sold out of the little hanging bottle kiln models though."
• "Some of the films were running on repeat and sometimes at the same time within earshot of each other, which was annoying."
• "Only criticism would be that on a warm day the radiators in the coloured glazes and office sections were on, which made it too hot and seemed wasteful."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "Amazing heritage pottery and museum. A bargain for the entry price."
• "A very interesting place to visit.Loads to see,loads of history and value for money."
• "It was £23.00 for a family ticket. Lots to see and read. Worth a trip in my opinion."
• "Very fairly priced entrance fee."
• "We visited on the free heritage open day but would certainly be happy to pay the entry fee on as future trip as reasonable for what you get."

Cons:

• "If you pay for entry and do all of the creative stuff, it can add up but it's worth it."
• "Probably hard times as for us all 🙂 Still definitely worth a visit even if you just end up educating yourself with the videos."