Black Country Living Museum plays a Blinder as 308,000 visit in one year

The Dudley attraction saw 308,457 people attend in 2016, which was a 5.4 per cent rise on 292,533 from 2015.

Bosses welcomed the increase in figures at a time when 'not all museums are seeing more visitors coming through their doors'.

Andrew Lovett, BCLM chief executive, said the museum is hoping to build on last year's success and welcome 500,000 visitors each year in the next decade.

The attraction showcases what life was like in the Black Country during the industrial revolution and offers a glimpse into everyday living during that era.

It features replica shops from the time period alongside exhibitions of underground mines, heavy machinery and trams, which ran during the Victorian days.

The museum has been used as the film set for the hit TV-series Peaky Blinders over the last couple of years, as its setting is like that of early 20th century Britain when the series is based.

The museum has put together a plan to make it become a 'word class visitor attraction' welcoming 500,000 people by 2022. Mr Lovett said the visitor numbers posted for last year show the museum is 'heading the right direction'.

He said: "This is really positive news for BCLM, especially in a time when not all museums are seeing more visitors coming through their doors.

"As part of our proposed new development project 'BCLM: Forging Ahead' we want to achieve 500,000 visitors per year within the next 10 years so it's great to see our visitor numbers moving in the right direction."

Its busiest weekend of the year is the '1940s Weekend', which sees the museum turn back the clocks to wartime Britain. The museum is transformed with fashion, food and motor vehicles from the 40s.

Special events put on for visitors have helped the museum grow its visitor numbers over the past year, the attraction says.

In September more than 3,500 people poured into the attraction, as part of its Peaky Blinders Night to experience the culture at the TV series.

People from the Black Country and further afield donned flat caps and 1920s dresses during the event, which saw the museum's ground's altered to give a true Peaky Blinders feel, featuring props from the set and a barber shop on show.

Bosses at the museum have drawn up proposals for new facilities

that could be developed as part of its ambitious 'BCLM: Forging Ahead' project.

The plans include a new visitors centre, a bustling 1940s-1960s town, a manufacturing and making zone, an extension to the tramway and a new learning centre.

The museum submitted its first bid for funding from the Heritage Lottery in December to allow the major expansion of the attraction to go ahead.

Almost £10 million was requested by the attraction, which helped to fund the first part of it's masterplan.

Bosses say the expansion would help complete the museum's story, which will be a full 300 years of Black Country history.