THE Lady Lever Art Gallery will close for an extended period of time from this weekend.

Workers at the gallery will strike for eight weeks starting tomorrow (Saturday, February 17) in a dispute over pay.

More than 200 members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) at National Museums Liverpool (NML) will walk out affecting four museums – the Museum of Liverpool, the World Museum, the International Slavery Museum and the Maritime Museum – as well as the Walker Art Gallery, Sudley House and Wirral's Lady Lever Art Gallery.

The union said NML was the only one of 200 government employers who had not paid an agreed £1,500 cost-of-living payment.

The current opening plans for the museums are as follows:

February 17-18 

All venues closed apart from Museum of Liverpool café and shop and Sudley House café.

February 19

All venues closed.

February 20-21 

All venues closed. Museum of Liverpool café and shop will be open.

February 22– 25 

All venues closed apart from Museum of Liverpool. Sudley House café will be open.

Laura Pye, Director, National Museums Liverpool said: "We are sorry that from Saturday 17 February we’ll be closing several of our museums and galleries, for an extended period due to strike action. I’m always grateful to those who choose to visit our venues and engage with our brilliant offer, and I know that many visitors use our venues as places to support their wellbeing. Schools look forward to bringing their pupils to visit as part of their learning and, already this week, our venues have been buzzing during the city region’s first of two half-term weeks, which is something we never take for granted. 

“It is deeply regrettable that we’ve not been able to prevent this situation. A lot has been said, and continues to be said, about the reason the PCS union has chosen to take this action and, whilst we have communicated that we don’t agree with some of it, we want to be in open discussion with our striking colleagues to find a solution, so that we can welcome them back and reopen all our sites as soon as we can.”