Bury St Edmunds West Suffolk Archives branch to close at the end of August

The closure date for Bury St Edmunds records office has been announced.

The West Suffolk Archives branch in Raingate Street, will close at the end of August.

The news was greeted with dismay by campaigners who fought against the closure, which was included in a raft of cuts by Suffolk Council in its annual budget meeting in February.

The majority of the archives will now move to The Hold In Ipswich.

A working party has been set up however to decide which records must stay in the town, as requested by their depositors.

A statement from Suffolk Archives, said: “At the beginning of the year, the council confirmed the closure of the North-East and West Suffolk branches of the archive service.

“We can now share that these branches will close to the public by the end of August 2024 and that most of the branch archives will be transferred to the county’s purpose-built strongrooms at The Hold.

“The decant and transfer of archives and local studies material to The Hold, and the associated work to reorganise the Ipswich strongrooms will be a substantial undertaking.

“To facilitate this work, the archives and the John Blatchly Local Studies Library areas at The Hold will close to the public for three months from the beginning of October 2024.

“The exhibition gallery, café and associated events programme will remain open and operational.

“We appreciate that this will temporarily impact access to the archives, but complete closure is the safest and most efficient way to ensure a smooth move.

“We plan to reopen the archives and the John Blatchly Local Studies Library in January 2025 with an improved service offering.

The council added: “Centralising the three branches into one brings Suffolk in line with the majority of archive services across the country and will enable the council to deliver a service that is better value for taxpayers’ money.

“The council remains committed to developing a best-in-class archive service for the county at The Hold which includes state-of-the-art preservation and research facilities and an innovative exhibition, event and community outreach programme.

“We are reviewing opening hours, transport links and parking facilities so that we can identify opportunities for improvement, as well as maintaining our community outreach programme and digitising our most popular collections so that they can be viewed online.”

John Popham, chairman of the Bury St Edmunds Town Trust, said: “The permanent closure of the West Suffolk branch causes problems for people in the district.

“People can’t get from Haverhill to Ipswich easily, for instance, and would not be able carry out research in a day.

“I believe other places in West Suffolk are also left in this position.”