Black Country Living Museum — Attraction in Dudley

A mixed bag this one, visited for the first time on the bank holiday weekend at the end of April.

Excitement of seeing tram lines and trolley bus power lines was quickly extinguished when it became evident they haven’t run for some time and there are no plans to do so in the future.

Entering the museum the meet and greet chap outside was friendly enough. Approaching the sales counters, reasonable greeting, quick friendly service. As we saw with another family, you are loudly informed if you’re receiving tickets for a one off visit rather than the yearly return variety - I can see some being offended by this.

Into the museum, the map provided is poorly detailed and very small text is used. There’s a notice board on the left with the days event times on.

The museum is a free to roam site with no specific routes and exploring will take you to own doors in places you would not expect. This is two fold in that there’s a surprise around every corner but it’s also easy to miss a great deal.

It’s worth noting a great deal of the displays and demonstrations were not in operation on the day of our visit with no signage and no obvious way of knowing if or when they would reopen.

90% of properties have a fixed barrier preventing you from entering and offering a peek via an open door. The odd one had volunteers in character who were engaging and knowledgeable of the property they were located in.

We visited the school and took part in a lesson, absolute quality by Mr Griffiths. Entertaining, funny and engaging with all students - possibly the best part of the museum.

Transport wise, there was a single bus travelling around a very very short run between two stops only. This doesn’t show off the site or provide any useful purpose to be honest.

Food - there’s a bakery in the attraction that sells actual food, a very small square slice of a variety of cakes will cost £2.50 per portion or an Eccles cake for £2 each. There’s a fish and chip shop on the upper level, good quality cooked fresh but by god it’s expensive for the portion size - £9 gets you a single portion of fish & chips, they do not sell extras such as peas or gravy. There’s no other way of saying it - it’s overpriced, also noted the attached waiting / seating area was in a poor state and dirty with food leftovers on every seat. The main cafe in reception only sells sandwiches- be warned, that’s your lot there are no other food options here.

Overall, it’s limited in size and content, a couple of hours worth if you take your time. The site has so much to offer but just doesn’t appear to be used. There are plans for future developments but this means large portions of the site are fenced off for construction.

Value - not really, it’s expensive for the offering and let down by the lack of food, entertainment...

We had a great time looking through the old houses and shops, we took a trip on the canal barge tour, that went through the old mines.

The queue for the chip shop was ridiculous and didn't seem to move so we left after 20 minutes in the queue and went back at about 3.20pm when it was only 5 minutes... To the top chippy

The fish and chips were extremely tasty, only £7.95 and the portion was a good size 😋😋

We spent about 5hrs in total, we had a free ride in the old bus down too the bottom and walked back

All in all it was a very nice experience day.

When you buy your ticket for entry the same QR code allows you entry for other visits throughout the year... The same with the boats.

Ask about this when your there as i'm not sure the criteria with discounted tickets.

We took 120 photos some of which are here... There is something about living in the olden days that really makes you feel nostalgic.

I would recommend going at least once as an adult... A lot of us went as children but didn't really get what it was all about.

Try the fish and chips... They were excellent and value for money !!

However the gift shop by the canal was very pricey.. (1 of the photos show a few prices)

About 4 lollies in a small bag £3 Some sweets ( not very many ) £2.50

Small bag of duck food £1.25 Throw them half a sandwich and save your cash 🤑

This was the strange part regarding parking... We went to the front carpark this was £3.50 (buy a token before you leave ) this was full so they directed us to the zoo carpark which was also £3.50 cash... This was also full so they directed us up the road (100 yards) to the shopping complex next to McDonald's and said park anywhere except on McDonald's for free... Saved £3.50 because the carparks were full and it's not any further than from the top of the zoo carpark just across the road 😳 try there first and save some cash.

As you look at the front of the entrance it's a 6 minute walk up the slight hill to your left and the road next to McDonald's which opens out to a large shopping complex with unlimited free...

A mixed experience, mostly great with a few disappointments.

This was my first visit, I chose to attend the BSL Guided tour. On arrival my tickets were not scanned and when I spoke to staff after the tour about the annual pass I was told that it should already be in my inbox, which would be impossible if tickets were not scanned, our names was just ticked off a list in the tour group, and a token given without any explanation what it was for.

After the tour, we were asked to do a survey, this was done as a group and not individual/anonymous this made some feel uncomfortable and to provided answers which may not have reflected our true thoughts, which I noticed when my answers were not that of the majority.

Seeking clarity regarding the annual pass we went back to main entrance, the staff at the desk on the lower floor were friendly and polite yet told me that my tickets didn't meet the requirements to receive the annual pass, this is strange as it did for the others in the group who had invited me to come, and was highly disappointing as we had planned to attend a few more tours and bring other friends and family with us.

We walked around to the places not covered in the tour back to main entrance, we were greeted by your bus conductor and driver whilst admiring their vehicle, they let us know were to get the bus from, and were kind enough to wait for us. It was short and sweet and reminded us of the old bus rides to and from town, and a great way to for us to see the places we wanted to check out next.

Then we went to the chip shop and had a lovely conversation with one of the young staff, she was friendly helpful, another staff who was serving us was not so friendly.

Onto the music shop all staff were friendly and happy to converse, the highlight was Carol in a shop which sold sweets and newspapers. It was obvious how much she enjoyed her work and our conversation was enjoyable.

We were planning to go back, but without the annual pass we were expecting to receive, this is highly...