BEAMISH museum, Locomotion and Tyne & Wear Archives are amongst the North-East attractions welcoming people back as art galleries and museums reopen this May. 

Many museums and galleries around County Durham, Teesside and the wider North-East have not announced plans to reopen, with confirmation that Step 3 of the roadmap out of lockdown is going ahead coming just last night. 

But those preempting the green light to swing doors open and welcome back customers will be doing so from next week. 

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums has announced staggered reopening dates for its venues, with Laing Art Gallery and Great North Museum: Hancock, both in Newcastle, opening on May 17.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Hartlepool, Newcastle's Discovery Museum and South Shields Museum & Art Gallery are also reopening on this date.

National Trust, which runs a host of sites across the North-East and North Yorkshire including Gibside in Gateshead, Ormesby Hall in Middlesbrough and Mount Grace Priory, Northallerton, is also reopening its buildings from May 17. 

The Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead, which is run by the archives, follows suit on May 18 alongside the Roman forts in North and South Tyneside.

The Locomotion, in Shildon, is reopening from May 19, as is the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead.

The grounds of Beamish Museum, County Durham, are currently open but bosses are planning to reopen indoor attractions as soon as they are able to. 

A spokesperson for Beamish, The Living Museum of the North said: “We’re looking forward to being able to open as many of our indoor attractions and exhibits as we can, and running our buses again, under Step 3 of the government’s Covid-19 roadmap.

“Since we opened our museum grounds under Step 2, it has been wonderful to welcome visitors back and see them enjoying Beamish once again. People have been telling us just how much they’ve missed visiting the museum and how glad they are to be back.

“We want to thank everyone for their ongoing support. We’ll be keeping everyone updated following the government’s Step 3 announcement - it’s great to be able to have visitors back at Beamish again.”

Most museums and galleries require visitors to book ahead and wear a facemask indoors.