The World of Glass

I visited with my two grandchildren aged 7 and 10 during the Easter holidays. I had already checked the prices online and saw that a combined price of £17 was available for one adult and two children, however I was charged £20; when I queried this the young man told me yes I was right and did amend the price for me, I just felt annoyed that had I not checked beforehand I would have had to pay the higher price. I then discovered that one of the highlights of the museum (as an ex Pilkington employee and local resident I have visited the museum many times over the years), a fantastic film which the children loved is no longer shown. The interactive area for children is no longer there too so after 40 minutes our visit was complete (to be fair we didn’t watch the glass blowing which is very good but my grandchildren have seen it many times before). This is a very good museum for adults but I just don’t think there is enough for children to do, which is fair enough, but not when a visit is costing £17, plus a parking charge. I did mention my disappointment to a lady on the way out and she did indicate that an interactive area for children is planned for the future. I just don’t see how local families on a tight budget could afford to come here. It certainly wasn’t busy while I was there. I won’t be coming back.

My advice would be to take extra care inputting your vehicle registration into the machine in the car park if you use it, as the buttons must have stuck meaning we accidentally duplicated the last two digits of our reg by accident and only realised a week and a half later when we received a £100 fine (£60 if paid within 14 days) in the post.

The parking fine stated “Failure to pay for full duration of stay” which confused us greatly as initially we assumed they were staying we had overstayed. However we had proof of purchase as we had retained our parking ticket thankfully, so it was clear we hadn’t overstayed. Concerned the parking company were saying people had overstayed when they hadn’t, and how this might negatively affect World of Glass, I first called them to ask if others had experienced the same and to let them know, but they advised they don’t get involved, but stated how they had enlisted this parking company to manage the car park after issues they were having when it was free, and I was advised to make an appeal if I’d paid for the correct amount of time.

Upon calling the company, they said they had no record of payment for our vehicle (because we’d entered the reg in wrong evidently) and to lodge and appeal. The outcome of the appeal was that the fine was reduced to £20 as it was considered a “major keying error”. I believe had only one digit been wrong, the fine might’ve been waived entirely.

The museum itself doesn’t have a huge amount to see but it is under redevelopment, and what is there is very interesting. The glass products available to buy are far too expensive other than the marbles (we’d hoped they might’ve had unusual marbles being a glass specialist, but they were the same kind you get elsewhere). The glass blowing show was very interesting and well worth a view.

I visited the museum which was actually closed at time of visit but a lovely chap opened it up for me to explore.

The pieces in the glass part are fascinating with a lot of historical content.

The museum of St. Helens part was small but equally as interesting. Learnt a lot about this small northern town.

After the walk around I was shown a lot of brochures for other places to visit while I was up north.

Although it's small it has a charm about it. We'll worth a visit

The cafe space itself is light and airy with lots of table and outdoor space but £3 for a machine coffee that you make yourself and tastes like its made with longlife milk in St Helens is a bit steep. Better off at costa round the corner.

The world of glass has events on and a library inside but is not used or promoted enough. My kids have never had a school trip there and its part of local heritage, shame really

This is my third visit with hubby, but this time we took a couple of friends.
It is actually free to get in, but if you want to see the glassblowing demonstration and the showing of the history of glassmaking, the it's £6.
The demonstration lasts about half an hour, but it is fascinating and well worth a watch.
Go and look at the old kilns. The tunnels are closed, but still worth a wander around.
On site facilities, cafe and gift shop.
Great way to spend a few hours.

This is a very unusual and rewarding experience. The exhibits are interesting and unusual and the place is airy and easy to navigate. There is a glassmaking demo every 90 minutes or so, an art gallery and an excellent cafe. Of interest to all ages.

This was really easy to find and there is free parking. The entrance is great for kids as it is an echo chamber that asks them to try it out. The exhibition is useful and informative and covers glass from a number of places in the world. There is a also a good section of he growth of St Helens that is illustrative of a number of similar towns,
The highlight was the glass blowing demonstration followed by 1 20 minutes screen show of glass.
We took our grandchild but there was another party of children in as well. He found in interesting but we found it even more so.
We then has a nice lunch in the spacious cafe, a bit et to be outdoors by the canal bank, and then treated him at the gift shop.
Staff were all friendly and helpful and it is one of the better museums we have visited - and we have done a few!

Stopped of on our way home to Scotland for some lunch at the cafe. Parking charges in the car park - prices don't match the signs! Cafe had soup, sandwiches, jacket potatoes, cakes. No longer do paninis or chicken and stuffing sandwiches despite this on the webpage and some menus in the actual cafe which is fair enough but didn't like how the manager looked at us as if we were mad when we tried to order them. His manner was definitely abrupt and condescending and also annoying when you get your hot drinks and then he tells us it'll be a wait of 25 mins for our food! Food was good but service is part of the experience which let this place down.

As for the World of Glass - big shout out to Cate, the apprentice glass blower. We were disappointed when he the day off but Cate gave us a full demo of the glass making and was very informative and funny. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had a lovely visit Feb 2023. The welcome information was very informative. We did find the viewing gallery a little dark, but very well presented. The glass blowing demonstration was really interesting and we where given the chance to ask questions with the artist.
The cafe very airy and light. Had the broccoli pasta on the special board. Huge serving, with salad and chips. Well worth the money. Would recommend and be going again.

I’m an outings’ organiser and visited World of Glass today with the second group I’ve brought in 2 weeks. Every one of the 100 people who came enjoyed the visit enormously. The variety of things to see and experience is fabulous and the staff brilliant. A hidden gem and tremendous value for money. Highly recommended