Public Libraries: Closures
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries have closed in England in the past five years.
Answered by Ian Murray
As the libraries development agency for England, Arts Council England (ACE) collects and publishes data on library closures, openings and relocations in its annual English Public Libraries Location Dataset. The dataset can be found at the following link: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/supporting-arts-museums-and-libraries/supporting-libraries
DCMS estimates the number of static libraries that have permanently closed (and not been replaced by or relocated to a new static library) in England in each of the last 5 years (for which data is available) is as follows:
Calendar Year | Estimated Permanent Static Library Closures |
2020 | 13 |
2021 | 16 |
2022 | 17 |
2023 | 10 |
2024 | 17 |
This data is based upon ACE’s English Public Libraries Location Dataset 2024, which shows the number of static libraries open as at 31 December 2024 is 2,866. The 2025 basic library dataset is expected to be published later this year.
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