Salford Museum

Salford Museum is an ornate brick building, a step into calm and light. Upstairs is an art gallery, small for Manchester, but a walk through spacious rooms with roof windows. Unhappily, some of the museum’s J. S. Lowry collection has been transferred but, like many Northern art galleries, it has a deep collection. Downstairs is a cafe, an open space with wide views onto Peel Park. And a reconstruction of a Salford street from Edwardian (roughly) times. The street is mostly built from items salvaged from clearances, itself a piece of history. It’s called ‘Lark Hill Place’, and has horses and carriages, apothecaries, music shops, a tobacconist and more. Even those who don’t like museums could be distracted—for everyone else it’s a winner. Behind Salford Museum is Peel Park, not large enough for a separate entry, but with wide loop paths and subject of a well‐known Lowry painting. Together it’s as if the museum comes set in it own grounds. Overshadowed by ‘national attractions’ Salford Museum is recommended over the famous ones.