jane james | Jul 1, 2018

After all the waiting and publicity, what a huge disappointment the St Albans museum has turned out to be. More involved in supplying food and drink than imparting interesting local history, any visitor to the town would be forgiven for mistaking the museum entrance as yet another coffee house. How can anyone use so much space for so little purpose; a totally wasted opportunity to tell visitors about the history of our town and how it came to be what it is today.

Video Game Basement | Jul 8, 2018

An absolute joke of great proportions. Yet another coffee shop with very little else. Did St Albans need another eatery, absolutely not.

Mike Stillwell | Jul 9, 2018

Really unimpressed. Plusses - It's a beautiful building, beautifully restored. There are still toilets, replacing the old public toilets. Minuses - The entrance hall has a cafe, and a lot of empty space without tables. With no other customers and six staff preparing food or chatting, we waited five minutes trying to catch someone's eye to be served. This replaces an excellent and thriving tea and coffee shop. It appears that the seating area for the cafe is an adjoining hall made to look like a court room. I can't understand why anyone would seriously think this uneasy setting would make a relaxing area to eat, drink coffee and chat. While we were there a few people drifted in to stand at the entrance and talk in whispers or to be photographed sitting in the magistrate's chair, but not to sit down. This space used to be regularly used for the sale of hundreds of reduced books, which I have to say I preferred. The half a stuffed lion called 'Arthur' in the upper hall seemed just nasty and tasteless. There were three or four large works upstairs, of which the matronly copper medusa was interesting, plus some smaller pieces generally described as whimsical. Nothing against their work but I would much rather see the space spilling over with pieces by local artists from local art or photography groups or the local university. Conclusion - it could be a thriving community setting, but it isn't. In trying to be nationally relevant it has missed being locally relevent and is simply poorly designed. For me the test is whether it offers something better than what was there before, and the answer is no. Perhaps as a museum and gallery it is a space which stands and falls on the content, and it may be that there will be amazing exhibitions planned, in which case my review won't be so relevant. But please get rid of Arthur the half a lion and dont have a cafe seating area that looks like a court room!

Utah Raptor | Jul 1, 2018

A bit of a let down, nothing much to see. The old one on Hatfield Rd was much better.

Mary Way | Jun 22, 2018

Fabulous much needed as an art experience greatly innovative great achievement