Filey Town Council has announced the temporary closure of Filey Museum due to serious health and safety issues identified during a recent fire inspection.
Filey Museum has been forced to shut its doors to the public once again after a recent inspection uncovered significant fire safety risks.
The temporary closure comes just weeks after the Queen Street attraction celebrated its highly anticipated reopening on the fourth of April, following a nearly two-year hiatus for building refurbishments.
In a statement issued following a meeting last week, Filey Town Council confirmed the difficult decision to shut the facility was made to ensure the wellbeing of everyone on site.
A spokesperson for the council explained the situation:
"A recent fire safety check at Filey Museum has raised some serious health and safety concerns. Due to this sadly the museum has had to close. This is in order to protect the volunteers and visitors."
The local authority, which owns the historic building, indicated that resolving the matter could require substantial upgrades to the property's emergency infrastructure.
The council statement continued:
"We are hoping to get the work done to the fire safety system as quickly as possible although it appears that a new fire alarm system is required. This matter will be brought back to the council once the investigation work has concluded. A number of other minor issues have been raised and these are being addressed."
The setback is a significant blow to the volunteer-managed attraction, which has been a fixture on the Yorkshire Coast since 1971. Often described as a "hidden gem" of Filey, the museum had recently undergone a major organisational transformation. It officially converted to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in August 2025 and recently appointed seven new trustees to help guide its future direction.
Before this latest closure, volunteers had been working tirelessly to overcome other hurdles discovered during the two-year refurbishment period, including woodworm and moth infestations in the collection, as well as severe overgrowth in the garden.
The brief reopening in early April had allowed visitors limited access to view a new Gansey exhibit and learn about the trustees' imaginative plans focusing on local fishing, farming, and seaside fun.
Alongside the museum's structural challenges, Filey Town Council also utilised their April meeting to provide an update on internal administrative hurdles. Over the past twelve months, the local authority has been untangling significant financial complications regarding its own investment funds.
According to the council, these accounts had been left dormant for several years, requiring current officials to track down former clerks and councillors to update the official banking signatories.
Detailing the financial administrative progress, the council stated:
"During the last year the council has had to address a few major financial issues. The most serious being changing signatories on the investment accounts. This has involved contacting previous councillors and clerks to help us. We can now access 3 out of the 4 accounts. The accounts had been left to stagnate for several years."
With access restored to the majority of the stagnant funds, the town council noted that its administrative efforts are now firmly directed towards completing the year-end processes and preparing for an upcoming audit.
Meanwhile, the dedicated team at Filey Museum will be waiting for the conclusion of the fire safety investigations before they can safely reopen their doors and continue sharing the town's rich heritage with the public.
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