Art gallery at Public to open permanently

The art gallery at the £67 million arts centre The Public will open permanently following the August Bank Holiday weekend, it was revealed today.

The Public's state-of-the-art interactive gallery in West Bromwich opened for a weekend more than a year ago, two years late.

But although the rest of the arts centre remained open, the gallery was unable to take a single paying customer as hi-tech exhibits did not work.

Steel trees, digital waterfalls, flying avatars, winding paths and sound tunnels were some of the weird and wonderful exhibits to feature in the Public gallery, when it first opened last year. However, Sandwell Council has failed to confirm which exhibits will be working when the gallery opens its doors and how the exhibits will differ from those originally planned.

Admission charges of almost £7 per person have been scrapped and the venue will instead open to visitors for free.

The council claims that in the year the centre has been open, putting on free events, it has attracted 35,000 people.

The new business plan is based around an estimate of 70,000 people going through the doors each year.