RECORD numbers of visitors are flocking to a museum on Teesside.

The Dorman Museum at Middlesbrough was closed for a massive refurbishment and extension three years ago.

About 35,000 visitors toured the museum between 1999 and the year 2000 when it closed its doors.

Now 14,000 people have passed through its doors in the first days of its reopening, more than a third of the annual figure. About 4,000 people walked round the museum over the weekend it reopened.

Museum curator Ken Sedman said there were a number of reasons for the soaring volume of visitors.

He said: "I think it is a mixture of things. I think the fact the museum was closed for so long has had people chomping at the bit.

"The fact it is one of the town's main cultural attractions, when the town is not exactly full of them, and I think there is a genuine place in the hearts of Middlesbrough people for the museum.

"We have had a lot of good publicity and our education officers have been working hard with local schools.

"I think the children have been bringing their parents to see what has been done, what is going on."