LATEST figures show that the Museum of Hartlepool welcomed 132,720 visitors in the year 2014/15, making it the most popular free admission local authority museum in the Tees Valley.

The museum – which is at Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience - now regularly receives more than 130,000 visitors a year compared with an average of about 105,000 five years ago.

Mark Simmons, Hartlepool Council’s museum manager, said: “Visitor figures started to rise in summer 2012 with our exhibition of teddy bears from the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood and a strong programme of interactive temporary exhibitions since then has helped to keep the museum fresh for both regular and new visitors.”

The museum’s recent exhibition, Voices of the Bombardment – commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Bombardment of the Hartlepools – received an amazing 50,500 visitors during its run, making it the most popular wintertime temporary exhibition since the museum opened in 1996.

Its current exhibition – ‘Pirates – Fact and Fiction’ – runs until June 28.

The Museum of Hartlepool is open every day from 10am to 5pm and entry is free.