Overview
- The National Motor Museum Trust announced on Wednesday that it will not renew its 60-year lease at Beaulieu and has begun searching for a new site for its designated collection.
- The trust says it intends to relocate when the lease ends in 2030 and that a new home would allow it to refresh exhibitions, reach more visitors, and develop apprenticeships in heritage engineering.
- Beaulieu Estate and the Montagu family say they will retain a significant number of estate-owned vehicles, continue running a motor museum on the Hampshire site, and keep the attraction's events calendar unchanged for now.
- The collection comprises roughly 285 vehicles including TV and film cars, land-speed record cars and Formula 1 cars, and the trust has said a new site would improve accessibility and education around that designated national collection.
- Local officials and community figures in the New Forest have voiced shock and warned of economic and employment effects on local tourism, and reporting has suggested failed funding and lease negotiations played a role in the split.