WEYMOUTH Museum is gearing up for a new season with an exhibition on the history of its own building.

The popular tourist attraction opened on Wednesday, featuring items of interest for all ages.

The museum will aim to tell the story of the town with various displays of objects and photographs. There will also be a children’s corner.

One of the newest displays outlines the history of the building holding the museum, which is now known as Brewers Quay.

Prior to this, the building housed two rival breweries for more than 100 years. These were known as the Devenish and Groves breweries.

William Devenish acquired an existing brewery in Hope Square in 1824 and the Groves family took over the next door brewery in 1840.

Both continued as rival businesses until 1960 where Devenish took over Groves. Brewing stopped in Hope Square in November 1985.

Richard Samways, information officer at Weymouth Museum, said: “What has happened is every time people come into the museum they will ask about the building.

“They see bits and pieces of the building left from the brewery that’s still there.

“We thought let’s tell the story of this building so we can answer those questions.

“When the brewing ceased there was an enormous amount of objects which were left over.”

The new season takes place following the announcement that a new permanent facility for Weymouth Museum will be established at Brewers Quay. Weymouth and Portland Borough councillors agreed earlier this month that Weymouth Museum Trust would manage and maintain the borough collection alongside the new development. 

Mr Samways said there were a whole range of things to keep people occupied at the museum.

He said: “Our aim is to make sure people know we still have a museum. There are a lot of unsung heroes. The whole museum depends on volunteers. People give their time for nothing. If there are people in the town who would like to volunteer and give some time at the museum we would like to hear from them.”

The council will give the Trust an £88,000 grant for the new facility, which will be released when the trust’s lease on the premises from Brewers Quay Investments starts.

The proposals mean the museum will expand to occupy four floors in the building with a new gallery and cafe. 

Mr Samways said: “Potentially it should be a really good asset for the town.”

Entry costs £1 for adults and accompanied children up to 16 may enter for free. 

It will be open to Wednesday to Saturday between 10.30am and 4pm.