Thousands visit Beryl Cook exhibition in Plymouth

16,000 tickets booked

Thousands are flocking to The Box to see the new Beryl Cook exhibition with takings in the kitchen and bar up by 88 per cent during its first weekend.

City leaders expect the four month run to have a wider economic impact on the city.

The profile of Plymouth City Council’s free -to-enter art gallery and museum has been raised by national media coverage about the largest ever exhibition of work by one of the most well-known and popular contemporary British artists.

Beryl Cook spent the last 40 years of her life in the city. The event marks the centenary of Beryl’s birth and features 80 paintings many of Plymouth’s streets, bars and cafes and its people.

Five thousand people visited The Box last weekend, almost half of those to see the Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy exhibition which runs until May 31 and a total of 16,000 tickets have been booked.

The exhibition tickets are free but give people a timed slot so people do not have to wait in large queues.

Plymouth City Council’s cabinet member for culture Jemima Laing (Lab, Stoke) told a full council meeting on Monday that kitchen and bar sales at The Box were up by 88 per cent over the weekend and retail sales up by 39 per cent. There had also been £9,000 in donations.

She said they should start talking about it as “The Beryl Cook effect”.

Four life‑size 3D sculptures, created in partnership with Theatre Royal Plymouth, of Beryl’s joyous characters have popped up around the city in the streets which inspired them including a jolly sailor outside The Dolphin pub, a cheerful shopper outside Plymouth Market, a bowls player mid-game near The Hoe Public Bowling Green and the figure of Brian Pearce (aka drag performer Ruby Venezuela) near the former Lockyer Tavern (near The Bank Plymouth in the city centre). 

One person responding to the exhibition said on The Box’s Facebook page said: “Fabulous exhibition, I was lucky enough to attend this evening. I could not wipe the smile of my face the whole time I was there.”

Another said of the sculptures: “Loving them all , this is the best new changes I’ve seen in plymouth so far.”

Chief executive of the Plymouth City Centre Company Steve Hughes said the Beryl Cook exhibition was “a huge coop” for the city and would provide a big economic boost to it.

He said he expected it to attract national and international visitors.

“It will raise the profile and perception of Plymouth and give people the opportunity to come into the city centre and see improvement works that are taking place,” he said.

“I think when the weather improves we will start to see more visitors to The Box and people staying in hotels overnight and doing the sculpture trail which will support businesses at the same time. Hopefully people will stop for a bite to eat or a coffee or drink in our restaurants, cafes and bars.”

Plymouth saw a six per cent increase in footfall in 2025, outperforming the UK high street average increase of 1.8 per cent.

Mr Hughes said he believed the increase in outdoor events in the city centre from six to 25 was partly responsible for the increase. Thirty events had already been booked in for this year. The newly improved Old Town Square and the new amphitheatre at Armada Way will be the main performance spaces.