Middlesbrough - Culture and Leisure

Culture and Leisure

The Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art opened its doors in January 2007. It holds the second largest collection of Picassos in the United Kingdom. It also holds works by Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse and Damien Hirst among others. Its considerable arts and crafts collections span from 1900 to the present day.

Middlesbrough also has a healthy musical heritage. A number of bands hail from the area, including Chris Rea, Journey South and Collectors Club.


Middlesbrough has two major recreational park spaces in Albert Park and Stewart Park, Marton. Albert Park was donated to the town by Henry Bolckow in 1866. It was formally opened by Prince Arthur on 11 August 1868, and comprises a 30 hectares (74 acres) site. The park underwent a considerable period of restoration from 2001 to 2004, during which a number of the park's landmarks, saw either restoration or revival. Stewart Park was donated to the people of Middlesbrough in 1928 by Councillor Thomas Dorman Stewart and encompasses Victorian stable buildings, lakes and animal pens. During 2011 and 2012, the park underwent major refurbishment. Alongside these two parks are two of the town's cultural attractions, the century-old Dorman Memorial Museum and the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum.

Newham Grange Leisure farm in Coulby Newham, one of the most southerly districts of the town, has operated continuously in this spot since the 17th century, becoming a leisure farm with the first residential development of the suburb in the 1970s. It is now a burgeoning tourist attraction: the chance to view its cattle, pigs, sheep and other farm animals is complemented by exhibitions of the farming history of the area.

In the Middlehaven ward, is the Transporter Bridge Visitor Centre, opened in 2000 and offering its own exhibitions charting the stirring past of the surrounding industrial powerhouse, as well as that of the singular structure it commemorates.

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