If you like this you might also like that

This week, thanks to those lovely people at the Carillon Tower and War Memorial Museum, I was at an event that reminded me of why I started this blog, over 5 years ago now. In an attempt to ensure that Loughborough didn't make it into a book called 'Crap towns' (it appeared in the top 100 so was in danger of, but luckily only the worst 50 made the book) I began to think about what Loughborough had to offer its residents, its students and its visitors. 

Shops, of course, were - and still are - very important to the town's economy, as are the pubs, the cafes and the restaurants. The huge variety of markets, along with the November fair are also a big part of the town's heritage and help to attract visitors. Alongside this, we also have a rich variety of museums, huge signs of our industrial heritage and a wide variety of cultural venues and events. But ...

Loughborough is not a traditional tourist destination, and is surrounded by three cities with a bigger offering than we have, and these probably also have more investment in resources. With access to those resources (I'm talking both money and people here) marketing and promotion of the attractions in these cities is likely to be more intense, more prolific and will reach a wider audience, and is therefore bound to result in more visitors.

So, we're a relatively small market town, with quite a big heritage offering, all of which is within quite a small geographical area. I suppose one disadvantage of this is there is no suitable bus service between the different locations, but for many people the distance might be walkable, and certainly there are plenty of available car parks. 

I'm sure I've probably blogged about all Loughborough's museums before, but maybe in different posts, not all in the same one (hmmm, on having a look I did actually blog about four of them in one post). And, I've shared some of Loughborough's cultural heritage in some of my walks - like the Loughborough Sculpture, Art and Architecture Trail. Of course, there's more: as a trained Loughborough tour guide, I've taken people on walks around the themes of Hidden Loughborough, and Loughborough's Links with War and Remembrance, as well as walks of a general nature.

When I first came to Loughborough, we used to have a Tourist Information Centre, located inside John Storer House. The TIC was part of the, can't quite remember what it was called, but something like the English Tourist Board (honestly, you'd think I'd remember since I actually worked there for a short while) and most towns had one. They used to be the keepers and sharers of local information - places to visit, groups to join etc. - leaflets galore, holiday brochures for other parts of the country (and operated a booking system), and a whole host of other useful stuff. 

I'm not sure what happened to these TICs, but many closed down (including the one in Leicester which I think was in St Margaret's bus station) and Loughborough's was one of these. I think I'm beginning to ramble a bit now, and I can't quite remember what the point of this post was ...

Oh, yes, it might have been something to do with publicising places to visit. The Charnwood Museum has lots of leaflets about local places and things to do locally, as does the public library, so if you're looking for somewhere to visit or something to do, these are good places to look. Maybe places could advertise other complementary places, you know, like on online when you buy something and they say "If you like this ... then you'll like that." or "Other people who bought X also bought Y." Worth a try!

So, if you like the Charnwood Museum, you might like the Carillon Tower and War Memorial Museum. If you like the Carillon Museum who might like the Great Central Railway Museum. If you like the Great Central Railway Museum you might like Taylors Bellfoundry Museum. If you like Taylors Bellfoundry Museum you might like the Old Rectory Museum.

Similarly, if you like the temporary exhibitions in Charnwood Museum, you might like the temporary exhibitions in the Local and Family History Centre in the public library. If you like the temporary exhibitions in the public library, you might like the temporary exhibitions in the Town Hall. If you like the temporary exhibitions in the Town Hall, you might like the temporary exhibitions at the Old Rectory Museum.

If you like the temporary art exhibitions in the Town Hall, you might watch out for the Art This Way annual exhibition which is held in a variety of artists' houses during June. If you like Art This Way, you might watch out for the Art and Craft Fair at Rosebery St Peter's Community Centre in October. If you like the Rosebery St Peter's Art and Craft Fair, you might watch out for an Open House art event in April.

I could go on and on ... but I won't! I think you get the idea!!

See you next week.

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Museums, libraries, books, talks and archives. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/02/museums-libraries-books-talks-and.html [Accessed 17 February 2019]

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Lynne