The Higgins Bedford: The New Name for the Redeveloped Art Gallery and Museum

With progress continuing apace on the £6 million redevelopment of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford Museum, the new name for the revamped facility was announced recently. The Higgins Bedford is confirmed as its new identity, with the annoouncement coming with a year to go until its opening in Spring 2013. I have been lucky enough to look round the site to see how work is progressing, and it's great to see it starting to take shape.

In difficult times, this is a very exciting redevelopment project for Bedford which will be enjoyed by local residents and visitors to Bedford of all ages and will attract many people to Bedford Town Centre. It will be a major attraction for our town centre and provide a boost to the local economy. While the up-front investment by the Council and the other funding partners in the project is significant, the transformed facility will also actually reduce the ongoing running costs for local taxpayers, while providing a much improved art gallery and museum for visitors.

The name provides a fitting link with the building's past, and its announcement only serves to increase the sense of anticipation around what will be a superb facility for Bedford.

The Higgins name comes from the Higgins family which moved to Bedford in the 1820s, founding the brewery at Castle Close, the site today. The brewery remained in the Higgins family until 1928 when Cecil Higgins, then decided to sell it to Wells & Winch Ltd. in order to focus on his ambition to create a museum art collection 'for the benefit, interest and education of the inhabitants of, and visitors to Bedford'. Cecil Higgins Art Gallery opened in 1949 in the house that had been his family home. Bedford Museum moved into the former Higgins & Sons Brewery in 1981.