Corinium Museum receives VisitEngland Welcome Accolade for third consecutive year
Corinium Museum in Cirencester has been awarded a prestigious Welcome Accolade by VisitEngland for the third consecutive year after achieving the maximum score for customer service in its latest Quality Assessment.
The accolade was presented to Corinium Museum Customer Advisor Judith Neale and volunteer Steve Neale by VisitEngland Chair Lady Victoria Borwick at the Visitor Attraction Accolades Awards, held at the British Motor Museum in Warwickshire on 10 November.
In her Quality Assessment report, VisitEngland assessor Vicky Parr praised the museum's consistently exceptional standards of customer care: “The Museum continues to provide an excellent visitor experience. I am delighted to be able to score the whole team 100% once again," she said.
"This is very rare and the team should all be congratulated on such excellent and consistent customer care throughout the Museum.”
The report highlighted the outstanding service provided by front-of-house staff and volunteers. The front desk customer advisor was commended for delivering “excellent service” and demonstrating “best practice in welcoming visitors”. Volunteer gallery guides were praised for being “engaging, friendly and able to answer fully all of the queries posed”, while showing “exactly the right amount of proactivity, without being too much”.
Excellent and exemplary
The assessor also described the farewell offered by the customer advisor at the end of visitors' experiences as “excellent” and “exemplary”.
Volunteer Steve Neale said: “It was a fantastic day. Lady Victoria Borwick, Chair of VisitEngland, delivered the keynote speech and the common thread was one of thanks and gratitude to all those organisations attending for enriching the customer experience against the very real backdrop of rising costs.”
Emma Stuart, Director of the Corinium Museum, said: “Receiving the VisitEngland Welcome Accolade for a third consecutive year is a wonderful achievement for everyone at the museum. Our staff and volunteers bring such enthusiasm to sharing the archaeological collections in our care and making visitors feel welcome.
“This recognition celebrates their dedication and the warm welcome they offer to people from our local community and across the world. We're proud to play our part in making Cirencester and the Cotswolds a welcoming destination.”
Explore history on your doorstep
Councillor Tony Dale, Cotswold District Council cabinet member for Leisure, Culture and Visitor Experience, added: “I’m proud that we support a museum where local families can explore the history on their doorstep and visitors can discover what makes Cirencester such a special part of the Cotswolds.
"Receiving the VisitEngland Welcome Accolade for the third year in a row is a great credit to the museum’s staff and volunteers. I would encourage anyone who has yet to visit to come and see what the people who lived here nearly 2,000 years ago left behind.”
Corinium Museum is managed by Freedom Leisure on behalf of Cotswold District Council. Ivan Horsfall Turner, Freedom Leisure CEO, said: “Achieving the VisitEngland Welcome Accolade for three consecutive years, alongside another exceptional 100% customer service score, is a remarkable achievement and one that everyone at Freedom Leisure is incredibly proud of.
“At Freedom Leisure, we are proud to manage Corinium Museum on behalf of Cotswold District Council. This award demonstrates what can be achieved through a shared aim to deliver outstanding visitor experiences and I would like to congratulate everyone involved on this thoroughly deserved recognition.”
Contact Information
Cotswold District Council Communications Team
Notes to editors
About the Corinium Museum
The Corinium Museum is located at the heart of Cirencester, the ‘Capital of the Cotswolds’. The principal collection consists of the highly significant finds from the Roman town of Corinium. However, the museum today is much more than that, taking you on a journey through time and charting the development of the Cotswolds from its prehistoric landscape to the modern-day.
Freedom Leisure runs the Corinium Museum facility on behalf of Cotswold District Council.
About VisitEngland
VisitEngland offers quality accreditation to visitor attractions participating in the Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme, including museums, art galleries, safari parks, gardens, historic houses, theme parks and more. Attractions are independently visited by our team of experienced quality assessors and offered support and guidance to improve the quality of their visitor experience.
Visitor attractions can gain a VisitEngland Accolade for exceptional facilities. Accolades include Quality Food & Drink, Hidden Gem, Best Told Story, Welcome and Gold.
About VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Accolades
VisitEngland’s Visitor Attraction Accolades, now in their 11th year, are awarded to participants of the VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme across a range of tourism attractions from historic houses, gardens, country parks and farm attractions to galleries, museums, churches and cathedrals. Participating attractions are supported by a network of highly trained and experienced independent assessors who deliver advice and guidance on improving and promoting the quality, accessibility and sustainability of their offer. Winning attractions can display the Accolade logo at their attraction, online and in their marketing materials.
The VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme (VAQAS) uses experienced assessors to evaluate the quality of visitor attractions across England. Accolades are awarded based on the scores achieved during these rigorous assessments.
The Visitor Attraction Accolades recognise excellence across all aspects of the visitor experience. This year, 73 attractions across England received awards in five categories: Hidden Gem, Best Told Story, Quality Food and Drink, Welcome, and Gold for customer experience excellence.
VisitEngland Quality Schemes | VisitEngland
About Freedom Leisure
Freedom Leisure is one of the UK’s leading charitable not-for-profit leisure trusts, managing over 130 leisure and cultural facilities across England and Wales, either acting as an agent on behalf of or managing in partnership with local authorities and other client partners.
We are proud to be delivering high quality, value for money locally-focused leisure services that are sustainable and accessible to all. As a not-for-profit organisation we are committed to the ongoing development of local community facilities and all surpluses are reinvested to support the objectives we share with our partners. We have a strong purpose with a mission to improve lives through leisure.
Improving lives through leisure
- Enabling communities to be more active more often, making the most of their leisure time
- Being a fun and rewarding place for our colleagues to work
- Supporting our partners with the provision of great community facilities
For all media enquiries please contact:
Samantha Fryer Ward [email protected] on 01285 655611