Any old iron? Marketing models and sustainable regeneration in Ironbridge

Abstract

The heritage offer at Ironbridge is long established: for over 50 years, the story has been told of innovation and technological development in the Ironbridge Gorge at the beginning of the industrial revolution. That story achieved even higher recognition over 25 years ago when the area was awarded World Heritage Site status, recognising its outstanding universal value of technological innovation. The heritage product at Ironbridge has changed in significant ways over time reflecting increased competition in the sector, the transformed expectations of the visitors and varied responses by the museum trust to political agendas to which the sector must respond in order to gain support for its activities. It is also demonstrable that the very success of Ironbridge has transformed the appearance, and demographics of this part of what were historically a fiercely working class East Shropshire coalfield. Not the least of the successes has been to turn the area into a desirable place to live again, but not for the working classes who have been superseded by a more affluent sector of society. The aim of this paper was to explore the nature of these changes and to provide an overview of how the perception of heritage in the area has shifted over time.