GREAT Yarmouth's Tolhouse Museum had a bumper year with visitor numbers up by more than 1,000. It was the best performing museum in the Yarmouth area during 2008/09 with numbers falling at the Elizabethan House and Time and Tide Museums.

GREAT Yarmouth's Tolhouse Museum had a bumper year with visitor numbers up by more than 1,000.

It was the best performing museum in the Yarmouth area during 2008/09 with numbers falling at the Elizabethan House and Time and Tide Museums.

Overall attendance of museums in the county was lower than the previous financial year and a report to Norfolk County Council's joint museums and archaeology committee gives museum developments and the timing of the school Easter holiday as reasons for the drop.

The total number of visitors to museums in the county was 348,257, a drop of more than 30,000 on the previous year.

The Tolhouse Museum saw an increase of 1,279 visitors with 5,108 people walking through the museums doors, compared to 3,829 the previous year. The number of visitors increased each month.

After being flooded during the storm surge in November 2007 the Elizabeth House Museum on South Quay was closed for about two months from January, including the February half-term, for repair and maintenance work.

But despite the closure the museum pulled in 8,496 visitors, a drop of 1,020 on the previous year.

Visitor numbers to Yarmouth's award-winning Time and Tide Museum fell by 2,568 - with the total at 30,055 making it the town's most popular museum.

School visits increased this year by 17pc with the county council putting more money into a project resulting in free admission for all pre-booked schools visits.

The report to the meeting held at County Hall in Norwich on Friday also heard that the recession was impacting on museums. While visitor numbers remained strong, people have not been spending as much in shops and cafes.