Do museums have a future?

IT SEEMED a wonderful idea. The TV series All Creatures Great And Small, about the adventures of colourful North Yorkshire vet James Herriot, was one of the most popular TV shows of all time. The characters of Herriot himself - based upon real-life Thirsk vet and author Alf Wight - and his sidekicks Siegfried and Tristan Farnon became much-loved household names, familiar to a whole generation of viewers.

What better way to encourage visitors to a beautiful, but almost forgotten corner of North Yorkshire, than to trade on that name?

So the idea of the Herriot Centre was born. Following a massive public appeal, sponsorship and a substantial investment from Hambleton District Council itself, the actual surgery used by Alf White was transformed into a tourist attraction.

Visitors to the centre are able to step back in time to the 1940s. Wight's surgery, sitting room, waiting room and dispensary in Kirkgate have been lovingly recreated, and there is a separate room displaying the true stories behind Wight's characters - many of whom were based on amalgams of three or four people.

Sitting alongside all this, there is a more traditional museum area showing how veterinary science has changed over the years - and displaying some of the types of equipment Wight and his colleagues may have used.

The centre's first year was an unqualified success. Almost 80,000 people came through the doors - and by allowing Hambleton to market itself as Herriot Country, the area was finally put on the tourist map, where it deserves to be.

But all is not as healthy as it seemed.

According to the latest figures from Hambleton District Council, the number of visitors to the centre has slumped in only its second year.

Only 52,000 have turned up so far this year: a drop of 14 per cent on the same period 12 months ago.

The Herriot Centre is not alone, of course, in having problems. Across Yorkshire and the UK a host of new visitor attractions timed to cash in on the Millennium heritage frenzy have been running into difficulties.

The ill-fated Millennium Dome is the most high-profile case. But there are plenty of others. The £100 million Earth Centre in Doncaster and the £15 million National Centre for Popular Music in Sheffield both got off to shaky starts, attracting far fewer visitors than optimistic projections had predicted.

Even established museums had their difficulties. The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds needed a £42.5 million rescue package after running up a £20 million debt, and in York the Castle Museum faced a slump in visitor numbers last year while the ill-fated York Story has closed altogether.

The question that begs to be asked as the new Millennium dawns is, have museums themselves simply become a thing of the past?

The short answer is no. In the National Railway Museum and Jorvik Viking Centre, York has two of the top visitor attractions in the country outside London. And while the Jorvik is to 'close' at the end of this month, it is only so that a newer, bigger and better Viking city can spring up in its place: one that promises to set standards in the museum business for years to come. Nevertheless, says Wayne Thomas, former head of the leisure and tourism management programme at the College of Ripon and York St John, it is quite possible there has simply been a glut of new museums and visitor attractions opening to mark the Millennium: and that there just aren't enough visitors to go round.

"I think there will always be a heritage industry: but you have to ask how much demand there is," he said. "Frankly, you can't have a market situation where there are so many new products and services all coming to fruition at the same time. It's just not on."

Opening a museum and attracting one-off visitors was one thing, Mr Thomas said: getting them to come back again and again was another.

He is convinced that if a museum is to thrive and survive in the 21st century, it needs to do three things: use high technology and interactive techniques to make exhibitions more exciting; constantly change and upgrade displays and exhibitions to make sure visitors will want to come back; and market itself successfully.

Those are all things that tourism bosses are planning for the Herriot Centre.

Stuart Gill, head of tourism at Hambleton District Council, says the recreation of Alf Wight's surgery is being made much more user-friendly: so that visitors can actually walk into the rooms and immerse themselves in history.

The museum side of the centre, meanwhile, is to be brought smack up to date: with displays brought out from behind glass cases, and modern and ancient veterinary equipment displayed side-by-side so visitors can see the changes.

There are also plans for interactive elements: such as computer screens giving visitors tips on how to look after their own pet, or suggestions for what kind of pet might suit them best.

Another part of the centre's strategy is to market it better: with particular groups such as retired couples and senior citizens, literary groups, pet owners and dog and cat shows all being targeted.

The Herriot Centre faces a unique problem. It is more than 20 years since All Creatures Great and Small first hit our TV screens. And ten years since the last series. Herriot Country has got a lovely ring to it: but what do you do when there's a whole generation of youngsters growing up who have never actually heard of All Creatures Great And Small?

Stuart Gill admits that is a 'challenge'. "Awareness of the Herriot name is certainly dipping," he conceded. "Young people have never seen All Creatures Great And Small and they have never heard of James Herriot." But the popularity of TV programmes about vets has never been greater - Animal Hospital and Vets In Practice prove we're as soppy about animals as ever.

And despite the dip in numbers, there appears to be a genuine feeling of optimism and enthusiasm among those involved with the Herriot Centre that it will continue to be a winner.

Coun Margaret Stilbeck, chairman of Hambleton's tourism sub-committee, points out that the centre is still firmly in the black despite the fall in visitor numbers: and it has helped to generate much more interest in Hambleton itself as a visitor destination.

Part of the fall in numbers, she speculates, was due to the dreadful summer weather. With the centre open 364 days a year, and special Christmas events, including a Father Christmas, for the winter period, she's confident visitor numbers will pick up.

Long-term, tourism bosses concede visitor numbers may settle at closer the 70,000-a-year mark than the near-80,000 a year achieved last year.

Not bad going for an out-dated, converted vets' surgery in out-of-the-way Thirsk. And it's still 70,000 people many of whom may never have visited this beautiful corner of North Yorkshire at all had the Herriot Centre not been there.