World of Glass

An excellent, educational & interesting half day out for the entire family - even if you aren't that interested in glass ! Displays include local history (with a reproduced Victorian cottage & shop), glass through the ages, and the chance to look at a former Victorian glass furnace - complete with tunnels. The Museum galleries are actually free to visit now (August 2023) - but you have to pay to park your car (£3.00 for 4 Hours - St Helens Central railway station is not far off) & watch the fascinating glass blowing demonstrations (£4.50 per Adult). There is a cafe onsite, offering a variety of refreshments at fairly reasonable prices (see Menu picture - just £3.0 for Breakfast food, but my companion found the soup a little bland & watery. She did, however, love the Jacket Spuds on offer !) Friendly staff, plus a well stocked Gift Shop (some smaller, cheaper glass gifts would have been nice - the average was over £15.0), completes the experience - well worth another visit !

Really impressive newly fit out galleries. Packed full of interactive things to do. A great glassblowing demonstration area. I didn’t realised it would also have tunnels and such a great cafe. The modern glass displays are such a good addition to a superb attraction. I will definitely be back as I didn’t get chance to do it all in depth there was so much to see!

Excellent museum. Free to visit, lots of the kids to see and do too.Friendly staff.

Improved since our last visit with the new interactive areas - more child friendly now and also a little play area outside. Worth a visit! Shame the maze inside has gone. Nice gift shop selling unique things and nice cafe.

Intersting industry, lot of beautiful art, free to visit (glass blowing presentation, small fee).Do not be scared to push the door to get through the glass bridge to the old parts of the museum and tunnels underneath the glassworks factory. Sing in the glass cone on your way out.Pay a visit to Borough cemetry Pilkington's thomb to finish the glass story.

Overall I enjoyed my visit but have deducted a star because of the really poor service being provided in the cafe. See belowThe museum is free of charge which is absolutely great given what's on offer. Parking outside is pay and display and nothing to do with the museum. I've come across better payment systems but it was ok.Once inside we paid extra to watch a live glass blowing demonstration - check the prices on the website. This was excellent and well worth the money. The live commentary by the staff member was fun and informative. It being the school holidays there were quite a few young children/teenagers there and they were as fascinated by the process as the more mature visitors. The session ended up with a lively question and answer session.As well as the galleries inside, it's worth crossing the bridge across the canal to visit the Victorian Furnace and Underground Tunnels.So, a really positive experience so far but spoiled by our experience in the cafe. We'd travelled an hour or so to get there. I'd read about the cafe and always enjoy a nice coffee/cake in a museum cafe; and after an hour and a half enjoying the the museum we headed off for a brew and a bite to eat.It was the sort of experience one unfortunately experiences increasingly in England nowadays. It didn't seem particularly busy but there were several tables which hadn't been cleared and while we tried to find somewhere to sit a rather hassled member of staff approached us and told us we'd have to wait 40 minutes for anything we ordered. I found it hard to understand why but I can only guess they were understaffed. To be fair, a visitor I spoke to on the way in told me the cafe was great, she'd been a few times, so perhaps we were just unlucky.We spoke to a volunteer and explained that we needed somewhere to eat and they suggested trying the cafe in St Helens Market just across the road. So we went there instead. And were served immediately, a hot lunch arriving at our table shortly after.It's a shame but it didn't spoil our overall enjoyment of our visit to the museum and I'll keep an eye out for new exhibitions here.

Worth a visit. The exhibits are free, the glass blowing demonstration cost £4.50 parking is pay and display.

This museum is great fun. Tells the story of St Helens and the glass industry..Free entry for all, on site parking (chargeable), cafe, interactive museum, galleries, and shop..I've been to the museum three times and it's always been enjoyable. The upgrades to the history section with interactive spaces are a real treat..The live glass show is also fantastic, but this does come with a small fee..Go check it out

A good day. An opportunity enjoy the glass blowing demonstrations and look around the site. Lots of historic structures and information. Worth a visit.

Great setting by the canal, extensive historic glass collection, could do with more contemporary glass. Cafe food selection quite basic. Tunnels for heat regeneration accessible, glass blowing demonstration, shop. Would gain another star with additional exhibition.